Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage
by Fire and Sand
Summary: With Sasuke in Orochimaru’s hands, Naruto creates a replacement. But a genjutsu from an unexpected source blurs reality and fiction together. Now the only one who can stop it will have to return to Konoha and face truths he wanted to avoid. SasuNaru yaoi
1. Facets of Snow

Fire: Welcome to _Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage_. This is a SasuNaru, or NaruSasu or however you want to call it, so there will be yaoi.

Sasuke: I'm writing a love story about me and Naruto.

Fire: You're just satisfying your ego.

Sasuke: (glaring at Fire) You're going to be mean to Naruto in this one too...?

Fire: But I love Naruto!

Sasuke: My dobe! No one else's!

Fire: A little possessive, aren't you? I'm allowed to love Naruto too.

Sasuke: I'm not possessive!

Fire: Well, enjoy the story. I apologize ahead of time if I'm going to be mean to Naruto.

Sasuke: Yeah…right…

Fire: Well…then I apologize ahead of time if it doesn't make any sense. It's just supposed to explain everything that sort of popped up during the first book, _Wait for Me: Leaving_. It will end sort of on a cliff-hanger depending on how you read it since it ties right into _Wait for Me: Leaving _so if you have no intention of reading the first book, you might not want to read this story. This is a prequel. This was what happened. I can't promise that it's going to make a good story.

Sasuke: It makes a good story. Believe me. I lived it.

Fire: Uh…never mind. (turns back to the audience) For the readers out there, all my stories have a moral or lesson, and if you read through the whole story, you'll see it posted at the end of the last chapter. I'm trying my best to make everything comprehensible, so if anything's confusing please send me a review. If it's signed, and even if it's not signed, I promise to reply to you. As for the morals of each story, they're all listed in my user profile in case anyone wants to read them all.

Sasuke: Baka…

Fire: Someone might. That's why I'm posting all of them on my user profile, so check it out...and reread the stories if you don't understand where it fits. Now, on with the story.

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Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sensei owns Naruto. I own Naruto stocks, the verb "to shunshin" and all subsequent conjugations (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she shunshins…etc, shunshin-ing and shunshin-ed), and the phrase "my dobe" and "no one else's." Try not to use my verb or phrases without permission. I read everything out there.

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Warning: All Japanese terms were used for artistic purposes. If you need a glossary of all the terms, go to my user profile. There is a complete list of every term I use and their definitions.

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**Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage**

**A Fire Project**

**Chapter 1: Facets of Snow**

**T**he freezing white blanket that fell over Naruto's blond head made him shiver thoroughly. Konoha had never experienced so much snow before, but although he wanted to speculate on this fantastic phenomenon, he was too cold to really care. There was this constant empty anxiety at the bottom of his gut. And he just wanted to go home. But his eyes were fixed on the sparkling white field shining in front of him and he couldn't tear himself away.

"_What are you doing?"_ At that simple question, Naruto felt warm arms slide around him, and for a moment, he allowed himself to melt into the other body. He sank into the warm solid chest behind him, ignored the black tufts of hair that tickled the side of his face. After a short time, the blond stopped shaking enough to look directly at the dark head that rested on his shoulder staring back at him. _"You hate the cold,"_ Sasuke stated.

"Watching the snow," Naruto said, answering the Uchiha's initial question as he took his warm hands in his freezing cold ones. He held it for a moment, absorbing his heat. "Were you looking for me?" For some reason, he felt incredibly at peace. The cold anxiety that had griped his chest right before Sasuke's arrival was gone.

"_..." _Sasuke was looking out at the field now. _"No,"_ he said with a cold smirk on his face. He was lying, but Naruto knew that. _"I was just talking a walk." _ He buried his face into the side of Naruto's neck.

The blond's face flushed bright red in embarrassment as he felt the dark-haired shinobi's cold nose against his collarbone, Sasuke's lips catching his skin. "Sasuke!" He shouted, sending the boy's name reverberating through the entire field. He clamped his hand over his mouth as he heard his own voice in his ears. "G–gomen..." he said as he saw Sasuke's glare. He had forgotten that Sasuke didn't like to draw attention to himself. The Uchiha had enough attention as it was...and he was trying to get away from all his annoying fangirls...would be trying to get away from his fangirls if they could only...

"_I swear..."_ he said as he buried his face in the shorter blond chuunin's hair, taking in the jinchuuriki's warm scent. _"I don't know what to do with you."_

Naruto felt the soft brush of the dark-haired shinobi's lips against his skin before Sasuke let go of his body. For a moment, there was only the cold white air surrounding him, and the warm hand in his grasp. He didn't have to look to see Sasuke at his side.

"What are you doing?" Sakura appeared suddenly from Naruto's other side, the same question Sasuke had asked him, the same tone of voice with which Sasuke had asked.

Naruto quickly turned to Sakura, his face a little pink at the sudden intrusion. He hadn't even heard her footsteps in the snow. He hadn't thought that Sakura would be here.

"Sa–Sakura-chan!" Naruto's face lit up with such sudden joy that he had almost forgotten the apprehension he had felt only a moment ago. "Are you cold? I–"

"No," she said pleasantly, still beaming at the blond shinobi. "What _are_ you doing out here _alone_?"

"_Hn."_ At those words, the phantom of Sasuke turned away from the two chuunin and began to walk away.

Naruto couldn't help but feel an arrow of pain shoot through his heart at that. For a moment, his heart had stopped beating. "Sasuke..." Naruto said softly to himself as he tried to grasp the light that was moving farther away with each slow invisible footstep in the snow. He had forgotten that this Sasuke wasn't real...again.

Naruto shivered as the cold world of loneliness returned, as he pulled himself out of that other world of warmth, that other world where Sasuke still existed. His clear blue eyes were still fixed on Sasuke walking away, even as his body stood frozen in that unforgiving universe of winter. He was daydreaming about Sasuke again...but that was okay. He_ could_ find something else to take his mind off him.

"Sakura-chan, want to get some ramen?" He grinned at her expectantly, trying very hard to hide the heartbreak that shredded his body from the inside.

Sakura turned slowly to Naruto. "Uh...okay, Naruto." She was looking in the direction that Naruto was looking only a moment ago. But she didn't see anything...because there was nothing there.

She stared for another moment before she followed after the blond boy. She wasn't in much of a mood for ramen, but she was sure that the blond shinobi was bound to eat more than enough noodles on his own to warrant her sitting there without anything to eat.

**A**t the very edge of Hi no Kuni–near Taki no Kuni just to be sure that the Konoha-nin wouldn't find them so easily–there was the ominous rhythmic ring of bells with every slow step, and beside that continuous ringing was a more erratic, choppy ringing. But, Itachi wasn't impressed. He swung his hand around in a large arc and smacked Kisame in the head, signified with a single large ring...then, silence.

"Stop shivering."

"What!" The blue man shrieked at the Uchiha. He couldn't believe what Itachi had said to him. "I'm cold!"

"..." But Itachi didn't have to say anything else. He needed to concentrate if he was going to finish this jutsu. He needed to make sure that what he was investing his chakra in, was actually going to get accomplished.

"Hey!" Kisame wasn't going to be ignored though. "D-d-did you h-hear me!" He was shivering again.

But, Itachi wasn't going to answer him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to melt into his surroundings once more. He had just discovered another function to this technique. It was actually more interesting than he had initially thought.

**K**akashi looked out at the village from one of the tall windows of the Hokage's office. At his side, Tsunade was reading over a thick document. It was rare to see her awake in the afternoon–she usually took a nap in the afternoon since she often slept late and woke early to work on urgent documents–but then, it was impossible to sleep when the office was freezing cold. "So...?" Kakashi asked as he turned to look at the blond woman. "What does it say?" Worry saturated his voice.

"Nothing that we don't know already," the woman said as she placed the thick pad of paper down onto her desk. She had ordered an investigation into this strange weather when the snow first began falling, but the report had turned up nothing. "We have no idea what's happening." This snow... They had no idea where this snow was coming from!

"Hmm..." Kakashi could see that there was nothing about it. "Snow in winter...?" It didn't snow here in Konoha, in Hi no Kuni, even at the height of winter. This certainly wasn't natural...but he couldn't imagine what, or who, could be doing this.

"But, do you think," Tsunade said slowly, "that this might have something to do with Naruto?" Her expression was as worried as her voice. There was great anxiety in her nervously shaking hands. "I mean..."

She didn't want him to take her words the wrong way. She was sure that there were plenty of other shinobi in the village with enemies as strong as Naruto's enemies...but as the Hokage, it was her job to have the jinchuuriki foremost in her mind. Any attack on the village was a direct cry for the power of the Kyuubi.

"I meant..."

"The Kyuubi is a fire demon," Kakashi said, almost reading her thoughts. They were both thinking the same thing for the same reasons. "They might think the snow will weaken him." Although there didn't seem to be any change in him when they went to Yuki no Kuni. These people didn't really know what they were dealing with if they thought this was going to work.

"I can't help but feel as if someone's using this to get Naruto." Her voice was shaking, and it wasn't because of the cold blizzard that was blowing in from her windows.

"Yes. I feel it too." And Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling at all.

**N**aruto shivered as he walked out of Ichiraku Ramen into the cold wind. After sitting in front of a steaming bowl of ramen, the street seemed even colder than before. In his heart, he was strangely calm, although his mind was in a state of panic. He was hallucinating about Sasuke again...even though he knew that he shouldn't be thinking of him. It was just that...with Sasuke's leaving for Orochimaru, he couldn't help but feel a little...

He couldn't really describe the hollow feeling at the bottom of his stomach, but he guessed that he felt rejected...because Sasuke didn't give him enough thought to know that he would help him...could help him. Sasuke didn't think that he was strong enough to help him kill Itachi.

"_That's not true..."_ Naruto felt the ghostly arms of Sasuke's phantom wrap around him from behind, freezing him in place as surely as the cold white snow was freezing his body. _"You ARE strong, Naruto... I'M just not strong."_

Yes... Those were the words that Sasuke had said to him at Shuumatsu no Tani. He had said that it had nothing to do with Naruto. Sasuke just wanted to become stronger.

Then...why does it hurt so much to think about him?

"Sasuke..." Naruto said as he shrugged the phantom's arms off. "Onegai...just leave me alone..." And he stumbled away before the phantom could do anything about it.

Anyone who was watching from afar could see the pitiful behaviour of the blond in the light of his best friend's abandonment. Anyone... It wasn't hard to see. With every step, the snow melted beneath another group of falling tears.

"Sasuke..."

Naruto didn't want a phantom. He wanted the real thing!

**End Chapter 1**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I use a lot of irony in my stories and if you read on you'll know what I mean. Irony is one of the most important devices at an author's disposal, mainly because it has so many uses. First of all, a definition: Irony is when you expect something to happen and the opposite happens. Or in my case, I use: Irony is when you expect something to happen and it doesn't happen. Nothing happens at all. Irony comes out of misleading foreshadowing (which I will explain next chapter). One way that I use irony is to make a story more tragic, or more angsty. During the time you foreshadow something to happen and the time it actually happens, suspense is created and your characters are directly affected by that suspense. Make good use of it. If things always happen the way you expect it to happen, it wouldn't make a very interesting story.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: Hey! This is supposed to be a romance between Naruto and me. If I'm not even there, how can it be a romance!

Fire: What…? Romance? I never said anything about a romance.

Sasuke: You said this was a SasuNaru!

Fire: It is. (smiles)

Sasuke: That bastard Itachi's in it more than I am!

Fire: Well, he is the villain in the story.

Itachi: We're just giving the people what they want.

Sasuke: They want me and Naruto! Together!

Naruto: (shocked) What!

Fire: Uh…story development is very important.

Sasuke: I don't care about plot development!

Naruto: (still shocked) What…?

Fire: Be patient. I swear it will get more interesting.

Sasuke: It better!

Naruto: (trailing off) What…?

Fire: Review, review, then review some more!

Sasuke: See you next chapter.

Naruto: What…?

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	2. Facets of White

Fire: Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 2 of _Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage!_

Sasuke: Hi.

Fire: (stares at Sasuke) …

Sasuke: (annoyed) Nani? If you have nothing to say, don't stare at me.

Fire: (turns quickly away from Sasuke) Nothing!

Sasuke: There better be more of me in this chapter.

Fire: Uh…okay.

Sasuke: Arrgh! There isn't more of me, is there!

Kakashi: (smiles) I'm in it.

Sasuke: I don't care! This is supposed to be a SasuNaru, a _SasuNaru!_ You can't have a SasuNaru without the SASU!

Fire: (smile) Yes I can. Just watch me.

Sasuke: …

Kakashi: (taking a window out of the Big Bag of Reviews) We have a review.

Fire: Yay! (grabs the window) A review! (reads the window)

Sasuke: …I'm not going to be in the story?

Fire: Yes. This is an unusual story…but I try to make my stories unique. I know that there are a lot of other stories out there, and I'm not saying that they aren't unique because every story is unique, but I make unusual storylines. I've been writing for a very, very long time, and I've run out of plots that I haven't used already.

Sasuke: (annoyed) Fire's ancient.

Fire: I'm not!

Sasuke: Just put up the story and get to the good part about me!

Fire: Just for that, I'm going to leave you out of the story altogether!

Sasuke: What!

Kakashi: (in sensei mode) It's just an idle threat. Don't take it seriously, Sasuke.

Fire: Enjoy the second chapter, and review! I want to hear what you think, even if it's horrible and might give me a heart attack.

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Addition to the first disclaimer: No changes except that I own the verb "to shunshin" and all subsequent conjugations (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she shunshins…etc, and shunshin-ed and shunshin-ing) and I own the Big Bag of Reviews…or at least Kakashi's holding it for me for now. That bag is seriously heavy, even when it's completely empty!

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**Chapter 2: Facets of White**

**N**aruto had walked around for a long time before the cold got the better of him. For some reason, he didn't want to go home, or to the training area, or to the park, or back to Ichiraku Ramen. In fact, he didn't really want to go anywhere. He was afraid that he would run into Sasuke.

His irrational mind wouldn't allow the blond to think any other way. He had said such a horrible thing to the apparition...and he had thought such a horrible thing in his mind. And he knew that Sasuke could read his mind.

Sasuke knew that he didn't really want him around.

But he did. Naruto really did want him around. Naruto didn't know what he would do if Sasuke left him again.

In the middle of the miraculously empty main street that ran through Konoha, the blond chuunin stopped long enough to stare at the sky. The snow was still falling, and the cold that shivered through his body reminded him why there were so few people around. They were waiting for the snow to stop. It seemed that only he was crazy and stupid enough to walk around in the middle of such a...physically...numbing day.

Or it might just be him.

As the world suddenly spun around him, the blond clutched one of the walls of Anko's favourite dango shop. He felt like he was going to vomit, and his eyes weren't working properly. Everything was blurring into a swirl of strange shapes and colours...and for some reason, there was Sasuke's voice shouting in his ear.

"_Naruto! Naruto, something's wrong! Can you hear me? It's a–"_

'_Tsunade-obaachan...'_ Naruto's own thoughts rewrote over whatever the apparition had to say. _'Ero sennin...'_ His mind was rambling for someone to help him. _'Kakashi-sensei...'_ Even as he pushed past the dark-haired boy who shouted at him with invisible words, his mind just couldn't get around the fact that Sasuke couldn't help him, not as he was at the moment. _'Sakura-chan...'_

And he managed to drag his feet through the still impossibly white slush toward the familiar tower in the distance, where he knew someone might be able to help him.

**T**sunade looked out at the white blanketed village. It was beautiful outside like a single crystal in a hall of light. However, it was anything but innocent, like a crystal of gaseous poison. She knew that it must be up to something. She didn't trust snow. It reminded her too much of her youth...and for some reason, she had actually managed to get through a solitary game of solitaire. That wasn't the only thing that she had won at lately...but she didn't need all this eerie good luck to tell her that something bad was going to happen. The weather was saying enough. It was only snowing in Konoha. Beyond the gates, there was only the same green forest.

This was an attack on the village.

"And as Hokage, I have to watch over everyone, and make sure that as many people survive this as possible." She wasn't too confident that they might all survive this ordeal, but she had to be optimistic...even when faced with another unlucky win on her desk.

"Have a bad feeling about the snow?" Tsunade looked at Raidou who was holding onto a new stack of books that she knew she would have to go through. She wasn't going to have time for another round of solitaire for a long time.

"Yes," she said before taking the top book with a sigh. She should have known that it would be hard to keep it from this assistant. Raidou was uncannily observant, even for a ninja. "The snow's not lifting."

Raidou looked out the window at the thickly piled snow, and nodded. He was a little worried about it too. And in more ways than one. His initial worry was covered up by layers upon layers of warm clothing but the other... "Do you think the village will be okay?"

Tsunade sighed before looking down at the pile of documents on her desk. "It'll be fine," she said before taking a quick glance out the window again. She didn't really believe it, but she wasn't going to worry everyone unnecessarily. She had to be optimistic. Optimistic! As Hokage, she had to be optimistic. "I'm sure of it."

For a moment, even Tsunade believed her own words, but it still wasn't enough to dispel all the worry in her chest...and she had quite an ample chest.

"Tsunade-obaachan..." Naruto's voice had come from the door, and when Tsunade turned from the work on her desk to look at him, she saw him leaning heavily on the doorframe. He looked at her through half-lidded frozen blue eyes, as if even his eyelids were too heavy to uphold. "What's... I feel–" He finally felt all his strength shiver from his body, and for a moment, the room spun uncontrollably...then darkness rose in sharp precision around him, encompassing him completely.

"Naruto!" Tsunade rose concernedly from her seat, but she was too far away to catch him. "Catch him!"

And for once, Tsunade was glad that she had so many assistants. She had never really thought about them before–in fact, they had been such nuisances whenever she wanted a nap that she wanted to dismiss the lot of them–but such relief came over her as she saw Genma catch Naruto before he could hit the ground that she couldn't help but be thankful that they were around.

Tsunade allowed herself a sigh of relief as she pushed herself away from her chair. "Put him in the chair," she said, but Genma was already laying the boy in the soft cushiony chair that Tsunade usually sat in. She didn't have to say it, but it made her feel as if she was doing something by just saying something. She wasn't just supposed to stand at the side as if nothing was happening. Naruto had come to her, not Raidou, or Genma. He had come to _her!_

The blond woman's worried hand hovered over Naruto's body, the green light of her shosen jutsu allowing her to check over his vitals. In all, he seemed okay except... _'What's this strange chakra...?'_

She tapped into the strange chakra that flowed through the chakra channels. She didn't have any idea what it could be...except...

She examined the chakra again, and sure enough, it was disrupting the chakra flow to the brain. It was a genjutsu! But...she had never seen so much chakra in someone affected by genjutsu before. _'This is a genjutsu?' _It was unusual. The energy felt...strange, not quite right...

"Hokage-sama?" Raidou had seen that something was wrong. The blond woman was tilting. The blond woman was wobbling. "Daijoubu?" The blond woman was shaking.

"Nani?" She snapped to attention at Raidou's concerned voice. Her mind was a little foggy, but that was...

"Hokage-sama!"

...the genjutsu. As Tsunade fell forward, her mind was only on one thing. _'The genjutsu is this strong...?' _With her eyes trailed on Naruto, a whiteness came up to surround her.

"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade didn't hear Raidou's voice, didn't feel his hands shaking her as she allowed her eyes to close.

"Hokage-sama!"

Shizune ran into the room, her hand resting on Raidou's shoulder as she came to Tsunade's side. She doubted that anyone had noticed Genma running out of the room to get her, but she was glad that he did. Tsunade and Naruto needed a medic-nin at the moment.

"Tsunade-sama!" The dark-haired woman shouted at the Hokage, but there was no response. She was about to check and see what it was that was wrong with her, but as her glowing green hand neared, she could see that Tsunade's hand was still on Naruto's body.

Shizune snapped her hand back as she realized what must have happened. For some reason, her mind wouldn't allow her to deny this. It was real. It was really happening. She had only thought that it was theory, but it was all happening.

"Raidou-san," she said slowly as an intense chill ran through her body. "Tsu–Tsunade-sama..." She couldn't even bring herself to say it. Such a powerful genjutsu user... "...what was she doing right before she collapsed?" ...couldn't possibly exist. To affect someone from a distance, through a victim to get to another person...that just wasn't possible!

"Naruto had just wandered into the room and collapsed. She was checking to see what was wrong with–" Raidou froze at the dark worried expression on Shizune's face. He couldn't bring himself to go on. All the blood had drained from her face. "Shizune-san, nan des-ka?"

As Raidou turned to look at the other assistants in the room, he could see similar expressions on all their faces, although he couldn't say as much for Genma. Nothing ever seemed to faze him.

"No one touch Tsunade-sama," Shizune said slowly after a moment, her voice croaking a little from shock. "It's a genjutsu..."

"But...we should just undo it then!" Izumo shouted from the side, losing his cool as usual. Kotetsu stood by his side, a more solid barrier against reality.

"It's a very, very powerful genjutsu." Shizune wasn't too sure if she wanted to try breaking it. _'Was that what you were trying to do when you were taken over, Tsunade-sama?'_ At least, she shouldn't try breaking it until she knew more about it.

**K**isame was startled for a moment as he saw Itachi stagger. He never thought that it was possible for someone like him to stagger because of a jutsu. This man who had come to them when only a boy...a genius...a prodigy of Konoha...had staggered. Kisame's mind had refused to accept it.

But, sure enough, his red eyes had flickered momentarily to black before intensifying into shuriken-filled red mangekyou sharingan. For once, a cold sweat broke out on Itachi's brow, numbing Kisame's mind even more. He knew that the boy had never tried such a prolonged genjutsu before. It must be such a strain on–

"Someone's trying to break the genjutsu."

The startling sentence wouldn't have been so startling if Kisame hadn't heard it, if he hadn't realized that the words, which usually contained some form of malice, were just regular words. And the sentence was so rare, the length so long that Kisame stumbled for a moment in his half-frozen jittery state.

Itachi was trying to distract himself from the amount of chakra he was using. This attack, which usually used so little chakra, was suddenly taking up a lot more. Itachi was trying to brace himself for the drain on his body, on his stamina.

"Itachi-san!" Kisame saw Itachi falter for a moment, his entire body failing on him. The snow outside had stopped.

Itachi held up a tired hand before straightening himself. He didn't need Kisame's pitiful help. "..." Itachi dusted himself off before wandering away. He was taking a break...for now.

Kisame looked after Itachi for a moment before sitting down with a slight sigh. Itachi was a pretty dominant partner compared to others he had had before Itachi came to this organization. He had initially thought that the boy would be more submissive, but that had proved to be untrue.

He wondered if Itachi would mind if he went out to satisfy Samehada's nagging hunger.

**T**he snow had stopped. Shizune noticed it right away, as soon as she stepped out of the Hokage tower. The sky was still grey overhead, white to reflect the white below it. But even with the village covered in unexpected, unseasonable snow–since it was unseasonable to snow in any season in Hi no Kuni–the woman could only wonder at what was happening within the tower. Tsunade and Naruto... Both were under some kind of genjutsu.

The dark-haired woman took one step forward before disorientation attacked her unexpectedly. For a moment, she couldn't distinguish up from down, and she stumbled on the slush beneath her feet.

"Shizune-senpai!" There was a blur of pink and red coming toward her.

Through her blurred vision, Shizune could faintly make out the other person's outline, but she didn't need eyes to know who it was. She had heard her voice. "Sakura...chan..." She had no idea what was wrong with her. She couldn't understand what was happening. Someone couldn't be attacking _her_ as well, could they?

"Shizune-senpai, daijoubu?"

Shizune blinked...then blinked some more. White had filled her vision. "Sakura-chan..." Her hands roamed over the cold snow before coming to Sakura's warm hand. "Are you..." Using Sakura's hand as an anchor, her hand stretched up to Sakura's face, her fingertips pressing cautiously against the younger kunoichi's features. "...right in front of me?"

Sakura blinked for a moment before waving a hand in front of Shizune's face. "Senpai...?" But, she could see no reaction from the ANBU taisho's lightless eyes. "Can you see?"

Yes. Sakura was right in front of her!

Shizune tried very hard to make something out in this whiteness that had surrounded her, but... "No. I can't." The words came out so much calmer than she had intended. It almost sounded like she didn't care.

It took a moment before Shizune's simple words finally sank in. Sakura placed her hand on the dark-haired medic-nin's arm for a moment before Shizune suddenly grabbed hold of her. "...!" For a moment, Sakura thought that it was something she had done.

"No!" Shizune called out as she felt the pink-haired girl's chakra begin to gather around her palms. "Don't! You'll be affected too!" The genjutsu... The genjutsu! "It's a genjutsu!" This had to be because of the genjutsu. It couldn't just be a coincidence. First Tsunade-sama, then her...

Sakura quickly pulled her hand away as she realized what was going on. The huge brain behind her wide brow had clicked onto it immediately. A genjutsu... Don't touch Shizune-senpai...

Genjutsu, which worked through imposing the jutsu user's chakra on the victim's chakra system in order to disrupt the flow of chakra to the brain, wasn't something that usually worked like this. If she couldn't break the illusion simply by breaking off all chakra currents in Shizune's body by sending her own chakra through to jumpstart everything again–a simple technique which worked on most genjutsu–this must be an advance technique.

And there was nothing that Sakura could do to stop it.

**N**aruto blinked for a moment before looking around. The darkness that had come to greet him initially was gone. There was only intense light all around him. But he could still just make out what was there, if he squinted his eyes. This place...looked just like...

"Naruto." A familiar voice. "You're here?"

The dark head that filled the blond shinobi's vision startled Naruto for a moment, sending all the strength from his legs and landing him on the hard ground. The jinchuuriki had to stare at him. "S–Sasuke!" He couldn't believe his eyes. This wasn't just some phantom. This wasn't a figment of his imagination. This was real! Sasuke was solid! If he stared at him, he wasn't going to see right through him.

For a moment, the blond thought about throwing his arms around the Uchiha. He was so happy to see him...but he couldn't allow himself to do that. He was in such a poor state that he couldn't bring himself to rely on him. He had grown stronger, much stronger lately, but he couldn't help but feel some inadequacy. He still hadn't brought Sasuke back. That was the problem. Sasuke...

"What are you doing here?"

...was supposed to be with Orochimaru.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Sasuke scowled at Naruto. "The question is...what are you doing sitting on this hill alone?" He held out a hand to Naruto and pulled him up. "If we don't hurry, we won't get home in time for supper."

Home? Supper? Naruto could hear the intense rambling of his heart as he took Sasuke's hand. For a moment, it didn't make any sense. What did Sasuke mean by that? They were standing here together in the middle of a Konoha summer, and that was all he had to say? What about hello? What about hi Naruto, I'm back?

Then, all his memory flooded into his mind. Sasuke and he were living together...in Sasuke's house on the Uchiha estate, the house that he had abandoned after the massacre. He had decided that it wasn't too painful to live there, as long as Naruto was there with him. And it was cheaper than living in that apartment he has been living in for almost four years.

Sasuke had just made supper...and he had come out to get him from his place atop his new hill...as usual. He did that every day since Naruto found this place. Even as Naruto looked around, he could see that this wasn't the same hill on which he used to sit. This was a different place...closer to his new home.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a faint smile at Sasuke before following him back to his house. But, he couldn't shake the feeling that he should be remembering something. "I'm coming." Something important...

But he pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and walked after Sasuke before he could lose sight of him.

**End Chapter 2**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

This might get a little confusing, but try to follow. I'm attempting to explain something very important for the aspiring writers. I realized that one of the problems that a lot of people out there have is that they can't find anything to write for their stories. It's not that they have no ideas, it's just that they can't describe it, and sometimes I have that problem too. I actually play a lot of games on my computer to clear my head and that's why I listen to a lot of music on my computer too. But in the end, the answer is to just write down and describe everything in your mind. You have five senses, and so does your character. If Naruto smells something unusual, describe the smell. If Naruto hears something unusual, describe the sound. I know that it's very tempting to just say that it's an unusual thing that Naruto smelled or heard, but your character should be aware of his world the same way you're aware of yours. That should fill up a few pages in your story. Remember that your character is a real, living, breathing person. All you're doing is chronicling his life. Sorry if I sound a little schizophrenic. A writer has to be a little schizophrenic in order to write a good story.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: Arrgh! I can't believe you actually did that!

Fire: (smiling) Did what?

Sasuke: (smoldering anger) You know what you did.

Fire: (with head shaking back and forth) Uh…no I don't.

Sasuke: (shouting) Itachi's in this more than I am! Again!

Itachi: (annoyed) Didn't we go through his last chapter?

Fire: We're just giving the people what they want.

Sasuke: They want me and Naruto! They don't want such an ugly bastard!

Itachi: Ugly…? (sharingan flickers momentarily to mangekyou sharingan before settling to regular sharingan again)

Naruto: Waah! What's going on? I'm unconscious!

Sasuke: Yes, now let's go home for some "dinner."

Naruto: What's with those quotation marks?

Sasuke: What quotation marks?

Naruto: (pointing frantically) Those quotation marks!

Itachi: …I'm leaving. (turns around and shunshins away)

Fire: Review! Tell me what you think. See you next chapter!

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	3. Facets of Discovery

Fire: Yay, the third chapter!

Sasuke: Finally! I'm in it!

Fire: (looking disinterestedly at Sasuke) That's because you won't stop annoying me.

Sasuke: And Naruto action, right?

Fire: No…this is rated T.

Sasuke: At least put me in the same room as him!

Fire: Hmm…no.

Kakashi: (walking up with the Big Bag of Reviews) Review call!

Fire: Reviews! Here! HERE!

Kakashi: (handing a window to Fire from the bag) Getting a little too enthusiastic, aren't we?

Fire: (reading the window) No. I just want to make sure that people are really reading.

Sasuke: Yeah. They might just be opening and closing windows to screw with your head.

Fire: Urusai, or I'll screw with your head!

Sasuke: …

Itachi: Wasn't I supposed to be in this story?

Fire: Uh…Yeah. I'll put more of you in the next chapter, if it fits in the storyline.

Kakashi: Well, what does it say?

Fire: I'm not reviewing reviews here. There's a reply button!

Sasuke: Then let's get on with the story!

Fire: And since someone asked about it, I've added an explanation of the genjutsu used by Itachi at the end of this chapter. It's going to be installed in several sections since it's fairly long so bear with me if you decide to read it.

Itachi: All my secrets…

Sasuke: Now, chapter three!

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Disclaimer: I've mentioned what I own and what I don't own. Well, here's another thing I own: Samehada's personality. I developed it the way I think the sword is like. Tell me what you think.

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**Chapter 3: Facets of Discovery**

**K**isame was never a dependent man...so when he realized that he had actually considered asking for Itachi's permission to go out and kill something, he became disgusted with himself. Since when was he dependent on a boy who was three years his junior? He didn't need anyone's permission to go out and feed Samehada!

But he did leave a note...just in case.

"Arrgh!" Kisame swung his sword around to shave through several layers of a tree. He was too frustrated to see that he wasn't really doing anything to abate Samehada's complaints.

**_Chakra... Chakra... That way!_** Samehada pointed in a direction to Kisame's right. **_Big chakra!_** Which wasn't saying much considering how every chakra was a big chakra when Samehada was hungry, when there wasn't anyone around them for as far as the trees stretched.

And, there really was no one around them, so it was a choice between going to this allegedly big chakra, or...allowing Samehada to eat some of his chakra, which wasn't really an option because Kisame wasn't going to allow it to do that no matter how hungry his sword was.

**_Chakra.! Chakra!_** Samehada was acting like an impatient child.

"Fine," Kisame said after a moment so that it didn't seem like the sword was dominating him...but in actuality, it was. He didn't really have any other choice but to go toward this big chakra that Samehada was pointing to.

So he set off before Samehada could complain any further.

**T**he medic-nin were surprised. Sakura was surprised. Everyone else in the room was surprised. It certainly didn't look as if Tsunade was going to wake up. But she did! The blond woman sat up as soon as Jiraiya came close...and punched him hard in the face.

He was trying to kiss her awake.

"Wow...I didn't think that was going to work..." Sakura stared amazed at the feat. She never knew that Jiraiya could wake a comatose patient just by trying to kiss her. That was amazing.

"That what was going to work?" Tsunade asked as she held her aching head with one hand while propping herself up with the other. She looked around for a moment before noticing Jiraiya's profusely bleeding nose. "Jiraiya, what happened to your nose?"

"What do you mean what happened! You punched me in the nose just a moment ago!"

'_Then again...maybe not.'_ Sakura's illusions about Jiraiya were dispelled once more.

And she was just about to ask him to try that on Naruto too.

"He was going to kiss you, Tsuande-shishou," Sakura said plainly as she saw the blood pool at Jiraiya's feet. Not all of that could have possibly come from one punch. Some of that blood was from–Sakura stared at Jiraiya with unfazed eyes–the perverted thoughts that were running through the white-haired man's mind.

"What!" He was trying to kiss her? Tsunade punched Jiraiya again, sending him flying across the room. It was another moment before her anger subsided. "Now..." She took a quick peek at Naruto who was still unconscious on his own bed, adjacent to her bed. They were apparently lying in one of the wards of Konoha Hospital. "...how is Naruto?" The last time Tsunade had looked at Naruto, he was unconscious...and he was still unconscious.

"Still the same as last time," Sakura said, even as Tsunade looked in Shizune's direction. The Hokage had expected the dark-haired kunoichi to respond. As a result, there was a confused expression on the blond woman's face, and the pink-haired kunoichi saw it right away. "Shizune-senpai has also been affected by the genjutsu."

Tsunade waved a hand in front of Shizune's face, and sure enough, the dark-haired woman couldn't see. Her eyes remained lightless, empty...unmoving. "Shizune...?"

The dark-haired kunoichi tilted her head at Tsunade's call. "Tsunade-sama, nan des-ka?"

"It's only temporary," Sakura said reassuringly as she saw the worried look on Tsunade's face.

"The medical report states that the genjutsu user must have used Uzumaki Naruto-san as a medium in order to affect Hokage-sama and Shizune-taisho. The chakra signature found in all three patients, when carefully analysed with proper precautions in mind, all had similar distinctive properties." Kotetsu was reading off the document. "Since Hokage-sama was in the presence of familiar personages, and Shizune-taisho was alone during their respective incidents, it cannot possibly be because of a close proximity to the genjutsu user. As a result, we can only conclude that Hokage-sama's momentary contact with Uzumaki-san and Shizune-taisho's momentary contact with Hokage-sama while Hokage-sama was under the influence of the genjutsu must have brought about these events. Due to Shizune-taisho's contact with the secondary genjutsu victim, Hokage-sama, as opposed to the primary genjutsu victim, Uzumaki-san, the effects were delayed as opposed to Hokage-sama's incident where the effects appeared almost immedi–"

"Stop reading that out loud! You're giving me a headache!" Tsunade snapped at Kotetsu. She was in no mood for his stuffy reports at the moment.

Kotetsu was staring at Tsunade with glassy eyes. "Nani?" And he crumpled to the ground in tears.

With a sigh, Izumo took hold of Kotetsu and dragged him out of the room. He couldn't just let Kotetsu bawl in the middle of a hospital. "Kotetsu..." Izumo sighed. "You should have known better..." It wasn't the first time Tsunade had yelled at him, and he still reacted this way. He wished that Kotetsu would develop an immunity to it.

But that was one of the problems. It seemed as if the Hokage was only yelling at him. "B–b–but I..." Sniff. "...I was only..." The door closed after them before any more could be heard, but they could still hear the muffled explanation that Kotetsu was giving Izumo in the hall.

"Tsunade-shishou..." Sakura was a little disappointed in her shishou's behaviour. She had thought that Tsunade would be calmer at the moment...after all, she had just come out of a temporary coma. She has been unconscious for almost two days, and the pink-haired kunoichi had thought that her shishou would have been weaker, but she seemed to be the same as before. Somehow, that made her feel relieved.

But it still wasn't helping Naruto's situation, and that was nagging at her in more ways than one.

**S**asuke watched Orochimaru for a moment before turning to Kabuto. He has been with the Oto-nin for almost three years now, and still there were no results...and he was disappointed. He had really thought that he would be able to become strong enough to defeat his brother by coming here. He had no illusions of that now. He was only as strong as Naruto was...as Naruto was now, as reported by the Oto spies.

'_Chikusho! Stop thinking about him!'_ Lately, his thoughts had strayed to his blond friend more often than he would have preferred.

"Sasuke-kun...?"

Sasuke snapped his attention back to Orochimaru. The pale man was watching him. "Y–yes, Orochimaru?" He felt Kabuto cringe from the corner of his eye. Even after being here for so long, he still refused to call him 'Orochimaru-sama.'

Orochimaru was staring at him, and it was making Sasuke a little nervous. He didn't know when he began staring, but those gold eyes sent goose bumps throughout his body. And that was saying a lot, especially when it was the body of a boy who was almost completely unfazed by the idea of killing his best friend.

"You seemed a little disturbed, Sasuke-sama. Is something wrong?" Kabuto always voiced those kinds of questions when Orochimaru wanted to know. The pale man never personally asked about Sasuke's well-being.

"I want to become stronger," he said simply, the same reply he always gave whenever they asked a personal question of him. He didn't really see a reason why he should give them any other answer. It wasn't as if he was here to make friends. He had enough friends before...and it didn't really get him anywhere.

"But, you've already become a lot stronger, Sasuke-sama." Kabuto spoke with the same tone that he always used with him.

But Sasuke knew what he was trying to do. And it wasn't going to work. There was no way that the dark-haired shinobi couldn't have seen it. Sasuke was too determined _not _to see Orochimaru's weakness. He had fought against his brother, and his brother's partner before. Those were real members of Akatsuki...not like this reject. Orochimaru was nowhere close to the power they had exhibited.

"I'm going for a walk," Sasuke said as he turned out of the room. Orochimaru didn't say anything against it. With the seal on his shoulder, he still held power over him.

Kabuto watched the dark-haired boy walk away for a moment before turning to look at his master. He implicitly knew what his master wanted him to do. He had to keep an eye on the little container. He couldn't allow anything to happen to him.

Without another thought into the matter, Kabuto shunshin-ed away. He was going to follow Sasuke, but he didn't need to be right at his side to keep an eye on him.

**I**t was amazing what one small walk could do. For the last few days, there has been such turmoil in Naruto's chest, and he thought that his mind was going to explode more than once. He really needed time to just sit around and do nothing although it wasn't as if he was doing anything special.

He was sitting on his hill again. Not the old hill where he had spent many useless hours watching the meanderings of lazy clouds with his friend, an even lazier chuunin. He was sitting on the _new_ hill. Alone. But it was helping. Within Naruto's mind, there was only calm, even as he looked out into the bright world that surrounded him. From his hill, there was only the silent summer breeze to stir the hairs on his skin and the rare white cloud to entertain his eyes. From his hill, that black bird in the sky looked as if it was waving to him. That black bird almost looked like...

'_Is that Sasuke...?'_ Naruto squinted his eyes, leaning a little forwards as if that would help him see better. That black bird almost looked like Sasuke, in the same black clothes he wore for awhile during the only chuunin exam that they took together.

But that was ridiculous. Sasuke can't fly. He couldn't be up in the sky somewhere like a black bird.

And the blond didn't have time to think about it as another Sasuke's face filled his vision. He dropped to Naruto's side like a lovesick fangirl, a faint smile on his face. It seemed as if he had time to spare for Naruto today. "Naruto..." After a short while, Sasuke hugged Naruto tightly, an arm around the blond shinobi's shoulder. "...what are you thinking?"

For a moment, as Sasuke sat silently at his side, Naruto thought that he had remembered something...something important. He knew that he had had this thought before. In fact, it was only a...few days ago, right? That was when he had last thought that he had forgotten something important.

"_Naruto!" _The silent call from the sky was unheard by the blond chuunin. _"Naruto!"_

"Naruto, you're thinking about me, right?" Sasuke's face looked serious.

Naruto blinked as Sasuke's face formed into the familiar dark expression that was always on his face. That was a strange sentence...coming from Sasuke. And for a moment, that behaviour was strange too.

But that couldn't be right. _'What am I thinking! We've been dating for almost a year! And we're even living together. His behaviour isn't weird at all!'_

Naruto was apparently scolding himself inwardly, even as this Sasuke tried to hold back a smile. He knew that there was no danger here. The muffled protests of the Sasuke in the sky were currently covered up by Naruto's thoughts of him. And Naruto had never heard the cries of the Kyuubi, straining to tell Naruto that it was all an illusion.

**End Chapter 3**

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**Itachi's Genjutsu Explained**

Fire: Those of you interested can keep reading but not reading this won't affect the outcome of the story and reading this won't ruin the storyline.

Sasuke: I want to know how he did that too.

Fire: This is exactly like a medical debriefing so try not to get bored. Pretend that you're the Hokage and you have to read this after you've woken up from the genjutsu.

---

**T**he advanced genjutsu used by Itachi is one of the unknown techniques known by the nukenin. He personally created it out of several other techniques viewed in the past through his sharingan and used basic genjutsu knowledge to enhance the ability. Relative techniques are Nehan shouja no jutsu and Tsukiyomi.

Tsukiyomi is a well known technique and is Itachi's signature technique. If the Uchiha has to be associated with a technique, it will be Tsukiyomi. Because of the toll that it takes on the user, the only aspect taken from this technique is that it creates an illusion entirely in the victim's mind. In order to decrease the amount of chakra it requires from Itachi so that he can keep Naruto unconscious for a prolonged period of time—since the entire reason they want to put Naruto under a genjutsu is so that he can't fight back when they come to get him—Itachi has taken out the ability to control space and time within a one second interval. It is those abilities to control space and time within such a short time span which requires so much chakra in the first place. As a result, the advanced genjutsu uses less chakra over a longer period of time, but Itachi can't control what happens within the illusion or how quickly time passes. That is entirely up to the victim.

Originally, Tsukiyomi required the user to look into the victim's eyes in order to cast the spell however, that problem has been diverted through principles of Nehan shouja no jutsu. Nehan shouja no jutsu also known as the Temple of Nirvana was the technique used by Kabuto during Sandaime's last chuunin exam. Kabuto used it to render a large body of people unconscious; however, this technique doesn't have to be used against a large number of people. Nehan shouja can be used against one or many people at once. For the advanced genjutsu, Itachi uses this technique to target one person, hence the intense concentration required and the falling snow, which is a slight variation from Nehan shouja's falling white feathers.

Itachi's decrease in concentration is no great feat. The reason why he needed to concentrate so much in the first place is because he needed to target Naruto from a distance. Once Naruto was under the genjutsu, it was no longer required for Itachi to concentrate so intensely. If he was closer, he wouldn't have to concentrate as much since it would be less likely that he would cast the genjutsu on the wrong person. Once a genjutsu is cast, it no longer requires the user's constant attention. It might be at the back of the user's mind, but the majority of his mind doesn't need to be thinking about the technique. For example, after casting Nehan shouja, Kabuto gave information on Naruto through his nin-info cards to the Oto-nin before they chased after Naruto and his team—which not only required chakra from Kabuto but also a little of his concentration, so not only did he break his concentration, he also diverted chakra to the nin-info cards—but no one woke up. A brief break from the genjutsu won't really affect it in any way, especially if Itachi is still working on it in the back of his mind. The snow stopping is just a side effect, signaling a decrease in concentration.

Basically, the advanced technique can be used at any range (close range: 0m to 5m; mid range: 5m to 10m; far range: 10+) because of Nehan shouja's ability to target people from afar, and it will still render the victim completely unconscious. While under the genjutsu, the victim will see an illusionary vision of their choice—an effect from Tsukiyomi—usually something their subconscious mind has been thinking of lately since that is the easiest accessible source of information. The illusion ends, and the genjutsu is over when the user halts the genjutsu or if the user dies. Unlike Tsukiyomi, there is no time limit and if the user desires it, it can last indefinitely.

Unlike regular genjutsu, the advanced genjutsu can only be stopped through an outside source one other way. It is one of the basic abilities to combat the effects of a genjutsu and is not a mystery. The only way to stop it is for the victim to stop the flow of chakra in their body for a temporary period of time, then to apply an even stronger power to disrupt the flow of the user's chakra. However, since Naruto has horrible chakra control, this is not possible.

Another problem to this solution is that usually, the victim is so engrossed in the illusion—which consists of their innermost desire—that they wouldn't realize that he was in a genjutsu. Unlike Tsukiyomi, they are unaware of their false surroundings so it is highly unlikely that the victim will try to break out of the genjutsu.

The second way to stop a genjutsu is for an outside ninja unaffected by the genjutsu to make body contact and use their chakra to disrupt the flow of the user's chakra within the victim's body. This doesn't work against this genjutsu and it is highly recommended that this option not be used. It is a waste of chakra and a waste of time.

The reason why it is a waste of chakra and a waste of time is because of the advanced genjutsu's defensive ability. Those people who have studied genjutsu will note that in order to create a hallucination, the user must extend their chakra through the cerebral nervous system of the victim to control their mind's chakra and thereby affecting the victim's five senses. This is the basic definition of a genjutsu; however, Itachi has used this weakness—since if his chakra flow is disrupted, the genjutsu will fall apart—to his advantage.

How Itachi created a defense is simple, but he can only use it if he is in a state of intense concentration, since it uses the same principle that made genjutsu so easy to break, into a defensive capability. During a state of concentration, Itachi is at his full awareness of his chakra and the chakra in his victim's body. He can increase the flow of his chakra into his victim's body at any time—almost to the point where he is actually using the same amount of chakra as if he was using Tsukiyomi from a distance—in order to strengthen his hold on the victim. When an outside source of chakra is detected, Itachi will suddenly increase his flow of chakra into the victim to prevent the disruption of the genjutsu since the outside source cannot disrupt his chakra flow if it is not strong enough to do it. Secondly, the sudden increase of chakra within the victim's body will cause the internal chakra circulation system to overflow—like a cup overflowing with water—due to a lack of time for the victim's chakra system to adjust to the larger flow of chakra. (Imagine that a chakra system is like a balloon. If you try to blow a balloon up too quickly, air just escapes from the sides of the opening instead of going in.) As a result of this overflow, the user's chakra merges with the chakra of the outside source, gaining access to the new body. The shinobi who created this opening will then fall under the genjutsu's spell.

Depending on how much of the user's chakra the outside shinobi has been exposed to, the effects of the genjutsu varies. Tsunade was exposed to a stronger source—the primary source—for a slightly longer period of time than Shizune, so she actually fell victim to the genjutsu for a short period of time. During that time, she didn't see an illusion since she wasn't the target victim, and it was temporary since the user didn't want to keep her under the genjutsu. Shizune was exposed to a lesser source—the secondary source—for a slightly shorter period of time, so she experienced only the preliminary effects of the genjutsu which would be the suffocating whiteness before the actual illusion appears. As with Tsunade, this was also temporary since the user didn't wish to keep her under the genjutsu either. Itachi has the option of keeping them under the genjutsu or not since his chakra was already within their bodies; however, keeping them under his control would be a waste of chakra and would only serve to drain his stamina. Someone else might use this option if it serves their purpose.

There is another way for an outside source to break the genjutsu, and there is also a flaw to this technique, but that will not be disclosed here since it's in the story and you'll find out later anyway.

And there is a secondary ability to the technique, other than targeting a person from a distance and rendering them unconscious, then trapping them within an illusion. But that will also be disclosed later.

The advanced genjutsu can only be used by someone who understands genjutsu thoroughly—like Itachi—and also has full understanding of Tsukiyomi since it uses some of Tsukiyomi's abilities. As a result, the only person who can use this technique will be Itachi, and anyone else who has the mangekyou sharingan since only someone with the mangekyou sharingan can copy, understand and fully utilize Tsukiyomi; however, that is highly unlikely since the advanced genjutsu is Itachi's own unique technique. All others will fail to use this technique completely.

To summarize, the advanced genjutsu used by Itachi is of his own creation, created by taking properties of Tsukiyomi and Nehan shouja no jutsu and augmenting it with basic genjutsu knowledge. It has a defensive ability that prevents outside sources from interfering with the genjutsu as long as the user is concentrating—that's why Itachi became weary after Tsunade's trying to break the genjutsu—and it creates such a believable illusion that the shinobi is almost completely unaware of his false surroundings. The only person who can stop the genjutsu is essentially Itachi and the victim if he can figure out that he's in a genjutsu. The third option remains a mystery. There is an obvious flaw in this technique but that will also remain a mystery for now. And the only person who can use it is someone who is adept at genjutsu and has the mangekyou sharingan.

---

Sasuke: There's no way to stop it? I say we kill Itachi!

Fire: Uh…sure. You do that. (turning back to the audience) I hope that answered some of your questions. For those who had to read that and for those who had to scroll past it, I'm sorry that was so long, but no one said that debriefings were supposed to be short. They just have to be thorough. I hope I didn't leave anything out. If I did, send me a review about this and I'll just add it on at the end of the next chapter, or send you a reply if the story is already over and you still have questions. As to the flaw in the technique, I'll add a supplementary to this report in a later chapter to explain it when it comes up in the story. The secondary ability comes up even later in the story, so that'll be in a separate supplementary.

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I don't remember if I wrote this one already. It might have been in the first book so I think I'll write it again. It's something that has been nagging at me. "Anymore" and "any more" are two different phrases with their own meanings. I used "any more" in this story—I'm not sure if anyone noticed—and it is the correct usage in case anyone was wondering. "Any more" in this case meant "no more than this," which made sense because no more of the conversation was heard than was already said. "Anymore" would have been used if it referred to something that wasn't done "any longer." For example, Naruto didn't want to eat ramen anymore. What this sentence means is that Naruto doesn't want to eat ramen any longer than he already has. He has become bored of it. It's not very likely that Naruto will become bored of ramen, but if he ever does, he wouldn't want to eat it anymore. I hope this clarified that somewhat. Give me a shout if there's anything you want clarified.

Fire's babbling:

Naruto: I don't want to eat ramen anymore? Waah! You're spreading rumours about me. Now Kakashi-sensei won't buy me ramen anymore!

Fire: That won't happen. You ask him to buy you ramen all the time. Kakashi won't believe it.

Kakashi: I might.

Fire: (sweating) But you know that it's not true!

Sasuke: Back to the topic of me…

Fire: (still shouting at Kakashi) Why would you do that!

Kakashi: I'm cheap.

Fire: …

Sasuke: Oi! Here! Me!

Fire: (turning to Sasuke) Nani?

Sasuke: Why is Naruto making me into such a sappy baka in his stupid dream?

Naruto: It's not stupid!

Fire: Uh…that's not me.

Sasuke: …It's not me either.

Fire: …

Sasuke: …

Naruto: Then who is it?

Itachi: (sneaking away) …

Fire: Well…we might never figure that one out.

Sasuke: I don't want to know what you were on…

Fire: I was high on writing!

Kakashi: Isn't that illegal too?

Fire: No!

Kakashi: And about your advanced genjutsu…does that mean I can use it too?

Fire: (shouting at Kakashi) You don't even know Tsukiyomi yet! And what in the world will you need it for?

Kakashi: (cringing and speaking in a small voice) Something…?

Fire: Arrgh! (turning back to the audience with incredible composure) Review. Is this story getting too weird yet? Do you understand what's going on? Did you understand that explanation on what in the world Itachi's genjutsu is supposed to do and how it works?

Sasuke: Just review. Come back for the next chapter. You should stop listening to Fire now before you go crazy. It's just going to go on and on for another few hundred pages.

Kakashi: Ja ne!

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	4. Facets of Blood

Fire: Chapter Four already! Wow that was fast.

Sasuke: (unimpressed) That's what everyone says…

Fire: Gomen nasai to anyone who was looking forward to my usual chapter upload on Monday. I posted a notice on my user profile but to anyone who didn't hasn't gone to my user profile or who just didn't get the message, gomen nasai again. As promised in my notice, I'm loading the fourth chapter at the same time as the third chapter, so I'm not going to be addressing any general concerns.

Sasuke: Finally, we can shut you up!

Fire: You just go away, Sasuke! I don't remember you being so mean!

Sasuke: I was always mean. You're just blind.

Fire: I'm not blind! (sighs) Just go on with the chapter.

Kakashi: (holding the Big Bag of Reviews) What? I'm not needed? (sinks back into the background)

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Disclaimer: I own Samehada's personality! I do! Don't even try to copy it! If you want to use it, send me an email and I'll give you a personality profile.

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**Chapter 4: Facets of Blood**

**I**n the darkened hospital room, the shadowy mask that covered a lone visitor's face only served to make his entire person darker. Kakashi was in deep thought as he looked down at his blond pupil. It was hard for him to believe that this silent comatose patient could be the same shinobi who yelled and shouted at every opponent that they have come across in their missions.

'_No... I can't believe it...'_ His mind was in denial, even as it knew that this was the truth.

This was definitely Naruto.

The door opened silently and for a moment, Kakashi thought that it was a nurse coming to make her rounds before he realized that it wasn't anyone like that. He relaxed a little as he recognized the chakra. He didn't have to leave yet.

"And I thought that I would be the only one here." Tsunade's voice was sarcastic as she closed the wardroom door behind her, and set herself down into an oversized chair in a corner of the room. The chair wasn't mean to be comfortable, but it certainly was big.

Kakashi didn't say anything in return. What was there to say? He wasn't going to explain why he was here.

"What are you thinking, Kakashi?" Tsunade could see that there was something ticking beneath that mass of weird grey hair. His strange activities haven't been unnoticed. She had known that he would be here. This wasn't the first time that he has snuck into Naruto's hospital room in the middle of the night. "You must have other, more important things to do other than watch Naruto all night." _'Like sleep...'_

"I'm fine." He was silent once more.

And the entire room filled with a suffocating silence.

Tsunade couldn't help but feel as if she had to do something. It wasn't normal to just stand in a hospital room all day, then sneak in to stare at the patient all night. That wasn't right! That was against regulations! Not even Gai had done that when Lee was sent to the hospital after his fight with Gaara.

"I'm going to assign you a mission tomorrow," Tsunade said slowly as her mind tried to think of what to make him do. Anything below an A-ranked mission would be too easy, wouldn't be able to take the mind of Copy Ninja Kakashi off his problems. "It's going to be an A-ranked mission, so you can't refuse." Even though she really hadn't thought of what it would be yet.

A slight sigh came from Kakashi's direction, and for a moment, she thought that he was going to object. A depressed man was in no condition to go on a high ranking mission...but then, a shinobi never shows emotion, either. Which would win?

"Tomorrow?" Kakashi pried himself from the boy's bedside and turned toward Tsunade. "In that case, I'll need sleep." He walked to the window. "I'll see you in the morning, Hokage-sama."

There was such resolve in Kakashi's voice that Tsunade felt shivers run through her body. There were some strange thoughts going through Kakashi's mind, and she didn't want to know what it was.

**K**isame walked for a long time in that one direction that Samehada insisted he go before he shunshin-ed. There was no way around it. They were taking up so much time. It was getting dark, and Samehada was being so stubborn. Even after a long while–even after Kisame insisted repeatedly that they turn back since they have been gone for so long–the sword refused to turn back. It had felt a powerful, large chakra, and it wanted to eat it.

In truth, the blue-skinned man had expected nothing there. He had thought that Samehada was hallucinating about a large chakra. A large chakra might be good for its hunger, but Kisame was also looking for a good opponent, for a good fight. It wasn't that he couldn't just fight Itachi, but...the blue man wasn't in much of a mood to get beaten to a bloody pulp.

So, Kisame was more than a little surprised when he walked by a dark-haired boy who was almost the splitting image of Itachi.

**_That's him! That's the big chakra! _**Samehada would have jumped up and down if it had a body to do it. **_Kill him! Eat him!_**

Kisame cringed a little at the image. "Eat him...? Did I look like Zetsu to you?" He whispered furiously to the sword.

_**What kind of a shark are you!**_

"I'm not a shark! I'm a shark man!" Kisame shouted at the sword.

Sasuke stared at the man. _'He's insane...'_ And Sasuke began walking quickly away.

"Hey! Who told you that you can go?"

The dark-haired boy heard the blue man's call, but ignored him. Sasuke dodged a swing at his head and continued walking away. There was never any doubt in the boy's mind that he could get away. This man wasn't nearly as strong as Itachi, and at that moment, the young Uchiha thought that he really was strong enough to defeat his brother...until...

...Kisame appeared right in front of Sasuke.

"Stop, dammit!"

And Sasuke had to dodge another, more difficult swing to his head.

As the dark-haired boy looked back at the attack, his eyes filled momentarily with a strange vision. He had seen this man before. This blue-skinned man with gill-like slits on either side of his face... He had seen him with his brother at that unknown village–whose name was actually Otafuku Gai but the name had been long forgotten by Sasuke–not far from Konoha.

His hand falling back for a moment to grab three shuriken from the black pouch on his leg, he threw it forward at his opponent. He wasn't in the mood to fight before, but he was now. Now, he was interested in this man. If he could defeat him now, he could definitely defeat Itachi.

On the other side of the tree, atop a swaying branch, the blue-skinned man stared forward at the shuriken flying toward him. _'Does this stupid boy actually think that he can hit me with one of those?'_ He had a huge sword! He could deflect those three tiny shuriken with one swing of Samehada. Just...like...

...that.

The bandaged sword flew forwards, knocking the three stars away. Just as Kisame had thought, the boy was nothing.

**_Nothing! Can't you feel that chakra!_** Samehada had other thoughts on its mind though.

But, the smirk that radiated from the blue-skinned man's opponent was still beaming at him. He could see that the boy wasn't done yet.

'_Sharingan sofuushasen sannotachi!'_

Samehada froze in midair as practically invisible wire slung around it. Kisame couldn't even flex his hands.

'_Just as I thought...members of Akatsuki are nothing.'_ Sasuke walked up to nudge the blue man with his foot. He was a little disappointed though. He had thought that they would be more of a cha–

Kisame burst through his bindings with a single shout of effort, a shower of white bandage and long wires raining down onto their heads. In the midst of his victory, Sasuke hadn't even noticed the sword's gnawing through the wires.

'_Kuso!'_ Sasuke jumped back to narrowly avoid a swing of the large sword...but it felt as if it had hit.

And it had.

He had avoided the main blow, but Samehada had caught him, had caught his side for a moment before shaving through his shirt. And in that moment, Samehada had tasted his chakra.

Kisame was charging at Sasuke again, urged on by the sword in his hand. He could hear the mad ravings of the hunger-driven sword shouting in his ear. Kisame couldn't stop now. If he did, the sword was bound to eat him, and no amount of bandages would be able to keep the sword off his back.

The black-haired boy threw his arm up to cover his face, but if he didn't do something...he was going to die.

However, Sasuke was never someone to sit around and do nothing.

He pushed himself from the ground and flew away before Samehada could hit him. The sword smashed into the ground, throwing dirt into the air as Kisame pulled it out to hurl in the boy's direction again.

Sasuke fell back, his hands pressed together in a reluctant seal. He didn't have enough chakra for an attack. Doubtful thoughts were racing through his mind even as his body acted with strange clarity. He didn't have enough chakra! But he had to try. If he didn't...

Sasuke didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't try.

'_Chakra no mesu!'_

Sasuke was about to finish his technique when a flash of silver and glowing blue fell across his field of vision. The dark-haired boy stared forward for a moment before the image registered. "Kabuto!"

And he had thought that he was in trouble! Kabuto was here.

"Sasuke-sama!" He fell back as Samehada tore through the chakra scalpels around Kabuto's arms. The grey-haired man clutched his wrists for a moment, smearing the blood–and the wound–away. But, he was already weakened. He couldn't feel his arms. At least...not that well. "Daijoubu?"

"..." Sasuke wasn't focussed on Kabuto at that moment. He was more worried about the man with the large shaving sword.

Slowly, the spectacled man turned his face toward the blue man. He had pushed the sword back for a moment, but now...he was coming at them again.

With lightning speed, the grey-haired man grabbed the boy. And they vanished before Kisame could get close enough to hit them again. Even Kabuto could see that it was a losing battle.

**_Kuso! Baka!_** Samehada was yelling at Kisame for his stupidity. **_After all that work...nothing! Not even a..._** Samehada licked its non-existent lips. He couldn't say that he didn't even get a taste. He had a part of that dark-haired boy's chakra. He just wasn't satisfied. **_Arrgh!_**

Kisame gathered the bandages from the ground and wrapped them around the sword once more before slinging it onto his back. He patted it reassuringly and began his way back to Itachi again. He had taken quite a while getting all the way here. He did come all this way from the Hi no Kuni/Taki no Kuni border to the Hi no Kuni/Kome no Kuni border, which took no more than a day. And it was going to take another day before he could return.

**N**aruto was staring into the distance again. In fact, he was concentrating so much that he barely heard his name in the wind. "Naruto, didn't you hear me?" Sasuke's face filled the blond chuunin's vision momentarily before it moved back, allowing the blond some breathing room.

Naruto blinked. "Sasuke?" He hadn't heard a thing that Sasuke had said.

The dark-haired boy was frowning at the blond. "I was looking for you," he said with the same annoyed air that always hung around his head. "Are you cloud watching again?"

The blond Konoha-nin frowned at Sasuke. All these questions were so unlike him. "No," he lied even though cloud watching seemed to be the only thing he could remember doing.

Then, silence.

The wind picked up across the hill and swirled around Naruto, making the blond boy shiver even though he was wearing his blazing orange jacket. The dark-haired boy at his side refused to register even a single shiver.

"We should go back inside," Sasuke said with all the sense of Sakura. Somehow, it wouldn't get pass Naruto's mind that his house-mate was acting normally, even though a part of his mind insisted that he was.

"I want to watch the–" Naruto stopped, his mouth pressed together in sudden silence. He just said that he wasn't watching the clouds. "I want to sit here a little longer."

Sasuke's face contorted into a larger frown. "We really should go back inside," the boy said as the sky darkened... "It's getting dark." ...conveniently.

Naruto stared up at the suddenly dark sky and shrugged. "I have a..." Shiver. "...jacket on." Although it really wasn't keeping him warm.

That shiver hadn't escaped the dark eyes that watched Naruto. "And it's getting cold." More than anything, he had to get the blond inside...before it was too late.

"I'm–" Naruto sneezed. "–f–" then he sneezed again. And again. And again.

Naruto sneezed a long series of sneezes, his hands covering his face, his eyes squinted tight as his hair bounced with every vibration.

When he finally stopped, he looked down at his hands, then to Sasuke shakily. "Sasuke...?" He held his hands out for the dark-haired boy to see. "Is there something..." There was the unmistakable tint and texture of blood all across the blond boy's hands. "...wrong with me?"

Sasuke frowned down at the bloody hands before taking them by the wrist and pulling out a mysterious handkerchief. Naruto could only watch as the dark-haired boy continued to wipe the blood from his hands; however, no matter how much blood Sasuke took away, the feeling of blood refused to leave Naruto's hands.

Somehow, the handkerchief refused to dirty.

"Sasuke...you didn't answer my question," the blond complained as Sasuke dropped the now clean hand he was working on and grabbed the other one.

"No. Nothing's wrong with you," the Uchiha said, and Naruto couldn't tell if he was lying or not. "Now, we really should go back inside."

**T**he wardroom was silent, especially after the blond's two visitors had gone, which was a good thing since the nurses were making their rounds and neither visitor wanted to be caught. That would cause some problems. They were supposed to represent the Law of Konoha, and it certainly wouldn't look good if either one of them were seen bending the rules.

But as the woman walked into Naruto's room, her entire body froze. There was the unmistakable scent of blood in the air, and as her eyes trailed to the sickbed with the only patient in the room, her eyes caught onto a mass of red oozing out of his mouth.

Naruto was coughing. He was choking, and blood was gushing out of his throat.

The woman turned back to the hall before looking back. She had never been faced with something like this before. She didn't know what to do. "Sensei! Sensei!" She called out for a medic-nin. Any medic-nin! "We have an emergency in Uzumaki-san's room!" And almost bumped into the medic-nin. "Sensei! It's Uzumaki-san!"

The woman was hysterical and Kitou was beginning to regret taking the night shift.

**End Chapter 4**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Okay. I know that this might have been annoying people for some time now, so I'm going to address it. It looks like I don't pluralize words in Japanese. I write words like "nin" or "shuriken" or "kunai" and there's no plural! No. This is not a misprint. In Asian languages like Japanese, there is no plural form. There is only the one form and it's the same whether there is one or many. Personally, I like to be true to the language and use the form that they have in that language. So the plural of "kunai" is "kunai" and the plural of "shuriken" is "shuriken." An interesting note would be "ninja." The word is in the English dictionary and does have an English plural form, so it is correct to use the Japanese "ninja" for plural or the English "ninjas" for plural.

Fire's babbling:

Kitou: I don't think people know who I am.

Fire: Really? (looks at the audience) You know who this is, don't you?

Kitou: (hangs his head) No. You should have used someone more well-known, like Shizune-senpai.

Fire: This medic-nin is one of the people who helped save Neji after his defeat by Kidoumaru. He was the one who worked for three straight hours and got tired so he had to have Mogusa replace him.

Kitou: I don't think that's helping. They just look more confused.

Kidoumaru: I don't think they know who I am.

Fire: Kidoumaru is one of the sound four, the guy with the four arms!

Kidoumaru: I have six arms. See? (holds up his four extra arms and the two arms attached to his shoulders) Six arms.

Fire: (sweats) Enough about that. Let's talk about something else now.

Sasuke: Aahh! Naruto's bleeding! You baka! (hitting Fire) How dare you do that to Naruto!

Fire: Waah! It's not me! (cringes against the barrage of hits) Don't talk to me! Talk to the Dream Sasuke!

Sasuke: (sighs) Fine. (looks around but doesn't see the Dream Sasuke)

Kakashi: I'll find him. (walks away)

Sasuke: (turns to Fire) Are you being stupid or are you just trying to be annoying?

Fire: (confused) What do you mean, Sasuke?

Kakashi: (walks back) I can't find him.

Sasuke: That's fine. I'm talking to this baka now!

Fire: I'm a baka? How am I a baka?

Sasuke: Arrgh! I want to be with Naruto, not fighting some blue-skinned freak!

Kisame: What? I'm not a freak!

Fire: But I like Kisame. (hugs Kisame)

Kakashi: That is so wrong.

Fire: But lots of other people like Kisame too!

Sasuke: Can you stop hugging him? It's making us sick.

Itachi: (nods in agreement) …

Sasuke: (grabs Itachi by the collar) And you! Give Naruto back to me! (shakes Itachi furiously) Give him back! Give him back! Give him back!

Itachi: (throws Sasuke aside and shunshins away) …

Fire: Bye Kisame! (waves at Kisame as he vanishes after Itachi)

silence

Sasuke: So that guy in Naruto's dream isn't really me…

Kakashi: And he isn't Naruto's Sasuke apparition…

Sasuke: And he certainly isn't a new apparition. That's just too stupid for one of your storylines, Fire.

Kakashi: It has to be a real person! Who is it? Who is it!

Fire: (stares at Sasuke and Kakashi) It took you this long to notice that the Sasuke in the dream is out of character? I'm sure the readers have noticed by now.

Sasuke: Arrgh! Just tell us!

Fire: Think for a while. It'll come to you. (turning back to the audience) Tune in next time as I reveal who this mysterious other Sasuke is.

Kakashi: Sounds like a soap opera.

Fire: Really? I'm just writing what I see happening.

Kakashi: You're spying on us?

Fire: What? No! That's not what I mean!

Kakashi: Yeah…right…

Fire: (sighs and turns back to the audience) Review, even if you don't have an account with I welcome anonymous reviewers as well, although I would prefer if I can reply to your reviews. Signed in reviews are preferred although I respect your decision to remain anonymous. So REVIEW!

Sasuke: Review freak.

Fire: I'm going to mess you up if you keep up that attitude.

Sasuke: Not as long as I'm the co-writer.

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	5. Facets of Confusion

Fire: The fifth chapter! That means I'm almost done. Yay!

Sasuke: How is that a good thing? I'm still not with Naruto yet. Are you just playing with me?

Fire: (innocence) What makes you say that?

Sasuke: Look at the story!

Fire: (looks down) …

Sasuke: No! Look at the other chapters!

Fire: (opens a window and reads the previous chapters) So…? What's your point?

Sasuke: I'm not with Naruto!

Fire: Do you have to whine about that all the time?

Sasuke: Naruto!

Fire: Never mind. Where's Kakashi with the Bag of Reviews?

Kakashi: (dragging in the bag) Yo. (pulls a window from the Bag of Reviews)

Fire:First of all, congratulations to everyone who guessed that it was Itachi. I was wondering if anyone was reading my babbling and other crazy A/N, and it turns out that someone actually does read them. Now you really know how crazy I am.

Kakashi: Translation: You'll find out in this chapter anyway, so I'm not going to ruin the story for you by telling you if you're right or wrong.

Fire: Yeah, what I said.

Sasuke: Now hurry so I can be with Naruto again. Chapter five, go!

Fire: Yose! First, I want to talk about something.

Sasuke: No!

Fire: It's important! Are people reading chapter 3? I uploaded chapter 3 and 4both on the same day, and there are more readers for the 4th chapter. Why is that? If anyone knows the answer to this question, please tell me!

Sasuke: They really are screwing with your head. Now go, chapter five! (pulls up the disclaimer and fifth chapter)

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Disclaimer: The term "no one else's" belongs to Fire. Don't steal it or I'll have to send Orochimaru after you. If you want to use it, send me a notice and I'll lend the phrase to you free of charge.

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**Chapter 5: Facets of Confusion**

**I**n the intense dark that blinded all of Naruto's senses, he could still distinctly feel the stickiness of blood on his hands. He felt it as surely as he felt Sasuke's arms around his body. It was still there. And he couldn't understand why it was still there.

"_Sensei! Sensei! We have an emergency in–"_

_The sound of footsteps._

_Then a gasp. "Chikusho."_

Then, the feeling of blood on Naruto's hands was gone.

For a long time afterwards, Naruto's mind wondered at what he had heard. Those voices. The sound of footsteps. He didn't recognize any of them, but he couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something.

But, his mind was reluctant to delve into that in the middle of the night. Instead, it decided that it would be best if it slept for a little while longer before tackling that mystery.

Naruto snuggled up against Sasuke's warm comforting body and drifted back to sleep.

**T**he Kyuubi paced back and forth in its large cage. Slowly, it was becoming more and more irritated. Its eyes narrowed at the snow that drifted closer to his cage with every passing moment, and it didn't like it.

**_Where is that baka gaki! _**That was what he said, but that wasn't what he was thinking. He was actually more irritated that the kid couldn't hear him call out to him.

**T**sunade shivered as another cold wind blew through the windows into her office. She wished that her office had glass, or something to keep out the cold...but the thick curtains weren't coming for another few hours. They were still in the process of making them.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san is here," Raidou said as he popped his head into the office.

Tsunade stopped shivering long enough to look up at the man and nod mechanically in acknowledgement. "S-send him in."

Raidou popped his head out again before the door to the Hokage office swung open, revealing the grey-haired jounin. Kakashi walked into the office with all the confidence of someone who had walked into it many times before. There was no doubt in his mind of what was going to follow, and there was no reason for doubt to be there–even though he really had no idea what kind of mission Tsunade was going to assign him–since he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Kakashi," Tsunade said with a polite smile. There was all the semblance of peace on the blond woman's face.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said with a reverent nod of his head.

The man stood expectantly in front of the blond woman for a short while. He was supposed to be here for a mission, but the Sannin seemed to be putting it off. As soon as they exchanged greetings, she went right back to her paperwork.

"Ahem! Hokage-sama, my mission?"

"I know. I know," the woman said as she pulled out another piece of paper. "It's not easy to work under these freezing conditions, Kakashi." And she held out a small booklet of about three pages. "A standard reconnaissance mission. I'm sure you–with your ninken–can handle it alone. You work alone most of the time anyway on these kinds of missions. Find out who is making it snow so badly and take them out if you can, otherwise just report back immediately upon discovering the culprit. This is not a track and kill, Kakashi, so don't go trying any heroics just because you know over a thousand techniques." The blond woman stared right at the masked man. She knew what was going on in that brain of his. "This is potentially more dangerous than even going up against Orochimaru. These people are most probably after the Kyuubi, and you know that Akatsuki is one of them. They're out there, and the eye of this snowstorm could very well be one of Akatsuki's members."

Kakashi sighed. One deviation from the mission–and he had a good reason for it too since he was only doing it to rescue Obito–and everyone remembers it! Kakashi wished they could remember the hundreds of other missions where he had actually followed orders. He had performed over a thousand missions during his career.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good." She looked up at him. "And can you get someone to come in here and help finish making these curtains? I need them up so that I can focus on my work."

**T**o say that Sasuke was angry and frustrated would have been the nice way of putting it. Sasuke was far from angry and frustrated. In fact, this was a new emotion far above angry and frustrated. Sasuke was frangry. And since there had never been a frangry person before, Kabuto was at a complete loss over how he should handle it.

"Sa–Sasuke-sama!" Kabuto tried his best to keep up with the stormy Uchiha. But Sasuke wasn't listening to anyone. "Sasuke-sama!"

"What?" The dark-haired boy turned to the grey-haired medic-nin. For a moment, his expression was as dark as his hair, and the spectacled man couldn't find a single word in his throat. And Sasuke turned to the road once more before Kabuto could retrieve his frightened words from his belly.

They were almost "home" anyway.

There were quite a few things in Sasuke's mind as he stormed back toward Orochimaru's hideout. As he flexed, relaxed, then re-clenched his hands, he realized that he felt no weaker than he had felt that morning. That was what was troubling him. That was what was frustrating him. And that was what was making him angry. This was his strength, after all the time...after all the hard work he had put in with Orochimaru.

'_I am still too weak.'_

And he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't because he wasn't trying. It wasn't that he wasn't trying hard enough either. He had trained long hours everyday continuously for almost three years, strengthening himself for the eventual reunion with his brother. He certainly wasn't on a long vacation away from Konoha.

And Naruto.

'_Kuso!'_

He was thinking about Naruto again. The dark-haired boy shook his head vigorously in an attempt to knock him out of his mind. But it wasn't working. Naruto was still there.

Naruto. NarutoNarutoNaruto. He couldn't stop thinking about Naruto! Sometimes, his mind screamed at himself for not killing Naruto at Shuumatsu no Tani. That was his chance. He would have received the Mangekyou Sharingan. He would have been strong enough to kill Itachi...or at least match his strength. Then this extra training with Orochimaru would have taken care of the rest.

But at other times, his mind praised him for not killing Naruto. There was no guarantee that he would get the eye, and...he hadn't wanted to do it either.

He had to admit it to himself. It was hard, but he had to admit that he wasn't strong enough to kill his brother. Even Itachi had seen it. There wasn't enough hate.

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't hate Itachi. No. He hated him for everything that he had done. The broken promises of a training session never to come. The dark shadow of neglect that was cast onto him by default just because Itachi was smarter, was firstborn. The mock emotions of love that Itachi had cast onto him, only to tear his heart out with a single gesture of murder. Sasuke had every reason to hate Itachi.

It was just that...all that hate wasn't enough to conquer the feelings he had for Naruto.

'_Chikusho, how did I get onto this topic?'_

Sasuke steered his mind back to the topic at hand. He couldn't even stand up to that blue-skinned man! And that was more irritating than anything else that might have happened. In fact, it would probably have been better if he had died. At least then, he wouldn't have had this haunting him.

He was still weak. He knew that he had thought over this before, but he couldn't deny that he was weak. He couldn't even defeat someone like that, someone that he knew wasn't nearly as powerful as his brother. How was he supposed to expect to defeat Itachi?

Sasuke cursed under his breath as he looked up at the entranceway that led down to a world of darkness, and a world of never-ending study. He didn't have that much time left now...and he still wasn't strong enough to defeat his brother.

He knew that he wasn't strong enough. He could feel it deep within the very farthest reaches of his body. His mind screamed at him to leave now. There was nothing that Orochimaru could possibly teach him that would help, that could make him stronger. The techniques that the pale man had given to him were nothing compared to the ones he kept to himself. The Sannin would never really teach him anything of use.

But there was still the seal. The cursed seal.

Sasuke reached a subconscious hand up to touch the burning black mark on his shoulder. Behind him, he could feel Kabuto's ever present existence. It was always there. Sasuke had forgotten what it was like to be alone...to be really alone.

'_No. I won't leave yet...not until I know what this seal does for me.'_

For all he knew, he would have died if he had faced the blue man without the power of the seal. If he couldn't keep this power, he would never become strong enough to kill his brother. He would never be strong enough to do anything of use. No. He definitely needed to know what this seal was.

**I**n the homogenous grey beneath the cold sky, a black silhouette sat on his rock to stare into the backs of his eyelids. It was snowing again, but he didn't feel any of the cold that threatened to pierce through his dark cloak. Frozen bubbles of sweat lay across the man's skin in intense concentration before he flicked them away with a single gesture of his hand. He needed another break.

For a long time after he returned his attention to the genjutsu, Itachi knew that he was losing momentum. He was losing control over himself...and it was killing Naruto.

Itachi almost thought he would have a heart attack–if that was even possible for the elder Uchiha–when he saw the blood on Naruto's hands. It had taken so long just to wipe one of those hands clean that he thought the blood wouldn't come off. It scared him. It really scared him. If he had killed Naruto, they would never get the Kyuubi.

And he would be punished. Severely punished.

Within the illusionary world that he had created, his other self was sleeping, so it was okay to leave for a while. The feeling of warmth against his chest wasn't something he was accustomed to, and it unsettled him. He didn't like it.

Naruto was suspecting that it wasn't Sasuke. Itachi saw it in his eyes when he came to get him on that hill. He was always on that hill, looking out as if searching for another Sasuke that he knew was real. That he knew wasn't Itachi.

He wasn't acting like Sasuke.

But this was how Sasuke was supposed to act. That was how Itachi remembered Sasuke acting. This was what Sasuke was like. But...

...that was seven years ago, when they all still lived under the same roof, and their family was still alive.

That was another lifetime ago.

Itachi dragged himself from his seat before he could freeze onto the rock permanently. He was waiting for Kisame to return, and he has been waiting for almost a week. He suspected that Samehada had probably dragged his partner into a feeding frenzy, but he could at least tell him that he was going to be gone for so long.

'_I'm going to beat him into blue chakra for his sword to eat if he doesn't come back soon.'_ Because he knew that Naruto wasn't going to hold up for much longer.

**End Chapter 5**

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**Itachi's Genjutsu Explained: Supplementary**

Fire: This is a supplementary attachment to _Itachi's Genjutsu Explained_ in chapter 3 since the flaw to the advanced genjutsu that I mentioned earlier has come up in the story. I'm sure everyone has noticed it. Typically, missions will have a supplementary attachment which adds more information to the mission report which wasn't previously known.

Sasuke: (sarcastic) Yeah. That helps explain it.

Fire: I'm sure everyone understands. Now, on with the supplementary attachment!

---

**T**he inherent flaw of the advanced genjutsu comes from the instability created by fusing different aspects of two different genjutsu techniques. Although ultimately there should have been no side effect to the genjutsu by creating a new technique this way, the primary purpose of one of the foundation techniques, Tsukiyomi, was designed to torture and eventually kill the victim. This creates a problem for this genjutsu which was created to contain the victim for capture. The two opposing purposes create an imbalance that throws the technique out of the user's control.

The imbalance comes from the conflicting areas of chakra focus. Different genjutsu will affect different parts of the cerebral nervous system to a greater or lesser extent in order to create the desired effect. In Tsukiyomi, torture requires the victim to feel a great quantity of pain, and chakra is more focused on the sense of touch to stimulate the pain receptors of the body. With Nehan shouja, this system is completely ignored since the genjustu focuses on rendering the victim completely unconscious. With the advanced genjutsu, the area of chakra focus is different once again as the victim is rendered unconscious but all five senses are continuously stimulated in order to created an illusion, and pain is avoided to decrease the chance of the victim discovering the deception. However, chakra will tend to gravitate toward Tsukiyomi as opposed to the advanced genjutsu due to familiarity. Usually, a genjutsu focuses on a single sense—usually sight, sound then touch with taste and smell being the least common—so when using a genjutsu, chakra will gravitate toward one of these senses. Itachi especially has more experience using Tsukiyomi than this new genjutsu. It is much easier to allow his chakra to focus in the pain area and move back into the comfortable realm of Tsukiyomi.

To decrease the chance of this chakra imbalance, Itachi spends a lot of his concentration keeping his chakra level throughout the cerebral nervous system. The user must consciously do this, especially if he is unfamiliar with techniques that fully affect all five senses. Normally, such a complicated technique requires a medium through which the user can focus their concentration, as in Tayuya's Mateki mugen onsa; however, this will not necessarily help. Focusing through an instrument like Tayuya or not, breaking concentration for a short period of time might allow the imbalance to occur. With Itachi, a short break allowed the imbalance to take place, and even after he had corrected it, the aftereffects were still present.

The problems that come from the chakra imbalance affect both the user and the victim. The imbalance can affect either the victim or the illusion. If the illusion is affected, correcting the imbalance will not cause any danger to the victim; however, if the victim is affected, the level of danger will range from low to high depending on the range of the opposing chakras. If left uncorrected, the imbalance can even be fatal. And that would provide a problem for the user if the purpose of the genjutsu isn't to kill the victim.

This hazard comes from the same principles as the advanced genjutsu's defense. Due to the same principle of overflow where the amount of chakra in that area has suddenly increased and now needs somewhere to go, the chakra imbalance will allow chakra to leak into the chakra nervous system from the concentrated area if left unchecked. As such, it will go into an area of lower concentration, the chakra circulatory system.

Cause for danger and fatality is the same as with any attack to the chakra circulatory system. A sudden increase in unknown chakra in the chakra circulatory system can damage internal organs which are all connected to the chakra circulatory system. The organs most at risk are the brain, heart and lungs which are closest to the cerebral nervous system. Think of a sudden increase in unknown chakra in the nervous system as a hand squeezing these organs since a sudden increase in chakra will cause the internal chakra coils to swell and literally squeeze the victim's internal organs during the time before the chakra can escape through the tenketsu. It's like Ura renge for the chakra circulatory system. It creates a great strain on the body and can cause great damage. The example shown was Naruto coughing up blood. That would be a constriction on his lungs and the rupturing of the dense capillaries present in that area.

If the user can avoid a chakra imbalance, either through intense concentration to avoid this problem in the first place or by correcting the problem as it arises, there should be no other sign to the victim that he is in a genjutsu. However, even a moment of illusory breakdown or a moment of abnormality and there is a greater chance of the genjutsu ultimately breaking. This is as opposed to other genjutsu which would have been broken as soon as it was discovered since the reality of the illusion created by the advanced genjutsu causes doubt within the victim that it is an illusion within his mind. This allows the user time to put a backup plan into action.

In summary, the flaw of the advanced genjutsu comes from opposing areas of chakra concentration created by the inclination to concentrate chakra in one area more than others. This is because genjutsu generally concentrates in one sense usually sight, but mostly because the advanced genjutsu comes from Tsukiyomi which concentrates on pain. What is created is a chakra imbalance where chakra is not evenly distributed throughout the cerebral nervous system and therefore, where all five senses are not evenly stimulated. The result is a distortion in the illusion created, or a direct attack on the victim's chakra circulatory system. If the illusion was affected, correcting the imbalance will restore the genjutsu. If the victim was affected, damage can appear internally, even after the imbalance is corrected. As a result, the victim might suspect that he is in a genjutsu, eventually bringing about the end of the illusion. During this time, it is best that the user not try to restore the genjutsu considering how that would be futile—the victim already knows that he's in a genjutsu—but the user should consider a backup plan.

---

Sasuke: O.o

Fire: What?

Sasuke: I didn't understand any of that.

Fire: What!

Sasuke: I understood the summary though.

Fire: So…

Sasuke: So, you're saying that it's Itachi's fault that Naruto coughed up blood?

Fire: Yes.

Sasuke: I'm going to kill him!

Fire: Anything you want me to explain, just send me a review or an email. I'll be happy to explain it.

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

More devices because frankly, I've gone through a lot of basic English grammar and I need a change. Today, I'm going to talk about personification. I've spoken about irony, and I'm sure everyone understands how to use that by now, but personification is a little different from irony. Personification is when you give a personal nature or human characteristic to something non-human. It's sort of like what I did to Samehada. To put it simply, you take something inanimate and allow it to act as if it was alive. That might sound a little crazy to you, but it makes describing a scene much easier, and it allows you to impart emotions and moods that you otherwise can't convey. A sky can rain, and it's simple to say that a sky is raining, but happy skies cry joyful tears and sad skies break down in sorrowful remorse. What is the mood you're trying to convey? Personification might make it easier to do it.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: So, you're telling me that my brother is me?

Fire: (smiling) Yep!

Kakashi: How screwed up is that!

Fire: (smiling) Yep!

Kakashi: Naruto's in love with Itachi!

Fire: (smiling) Yep!

Naruto: What!

Sasuke: I'm going to kill him!

Fire: (smiling) Yep!

Naruto: I'm not in love with Itachi!

Itachi: …

Kakashi: Um…I don't think that's really Fire.

Fire: (smiling) Yep!

Sasuke: What makes you say that?

Fire: I'm here! I was busy with a few other stories. (switches off the Fire auto-unit) What did I miss?

Kakashi: That makes me say that.

Sasuke: Arrgh! Just read what you missed!

Fire: (reads the missed dialogue) Okay…

Naruto: I'm not going to end up with Itachi, am I? (looks slyly at Itachi) Because that's not going to happen. I'll kill myself first.

Itachi: (tries to hide a burlap sack in his cloak) …

Fire: I'll think about it.

Naruto: What!

Sasuke: Naruto ends up with me. With ME!

Fire: Okay, sheesh! (turns to the audience) Review and tell me if you understood this chapter. Review and tell me even if you didn't understand this chapter. Review for any reason whether you liked it or not. I want to know what you like and what you hate. Tell me if you like the idea of Naruto staying with Itachi or not.

Naruto: No!

Sasuke: Naruto is mine, no one else's!

Fire: I'll consider writing an ItaNaru for you if you like the pairing, because they're definitely not staying together in this story.

Naruto: Yay!

Sasuke: Good.

Fire: If you have anything you want me to add to the English tidbits or just an English question, I'll write the answer or explanation there. See you next chapter, and review! Review!

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	6. Facets of Decision

Fire: Chapter six! This is chapter six! Kakashi, chapter six! Sasuke, chapter six! Naruto, chapter six! Sakura, chapter—ow!

Sasuke: (holding his smarting fist) Urusai! We know what chapter this is!

Kakashi: (pulls a review out of the Bag of Reviews) Here's a review.

Fire: Yay! (grabs the window from Kakashi's hand)

Kakashi: Can't you say arigatou for once?

Fire: (happy smile) Arigatou!

Kakashi: (slumps) That's not what I meant…

Fire: Uh…what did you mean, Kakashi?

Kakashi: Never mind. (sighs) Just read the review.

Fire: I already have.

Sasuke: Well?

Fire: Well what?

Sasuke: Well, what does it say?

Fire: Morale boosting encouragement.

Sasuke: That's it?

Fire: I'll address it with the reply button if there's more!

Sasuke: Nothing for me?

Fire: No.

Sasuke: Then why are we still standing here?

Fire: You're asking me questions.

Kakashi: May as well roll the next chapter. (pulls up the disclaimer)

Sasuke: You read my mind.

---------------------------

Disclaimer: the phrase "my dobe" is the exclusive property of Fire. No one's even allowed to borrow it. No one can use it! My phrase! My phrase!

---------------------------

**Chapter 6: Facets of Decision**

**O**rochimaru has been avoiding him. Sasuke could tell that the Sannin was avoiding him. For one: he wasn't anywhere on the compound! The Uchiha had searched all over the entire complex three times, and still couldn't find him. He could tell that something was wrong.

And that was enough. There didn't need to be a second point.

"Kabuto!" But he wasn't going to just give up. After searching the entire place three times over, he wasn't just going to let all that effort go to waste. "Where is Orochimaru?"

The spectacled nin looked at Sasuke for a moment before pushing his glasses back up onto his face. "Orochimaru-sama is currently out on important business, Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke wasn't convinced. To him, Kabuto looked very suspicious. "What kind of important business?"

The dark-haired nin was trying to intimidate Kabuto, but it wasn't working. Kabuto just stood cooly in front of Sasuke, not even a shaky gesture to indicate his falsehood. "Important business which wouldn't concern you," he said slowly, "Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke turned away from him with an irritated jump on his brow. He had expected Kabuto to shake a little, but it wasn't working. And it was annoying the shaking fists at his side. What was he supposed to do now?

"Then perhaps you can help me with this," Sasuke said slowly, taking hold of Kabuto by the shoulder before the man could get away. His anger could wait until later.

Kabuto looked interestedly at Sasuke. He was mildly surprised at what Sasuke had said, and for a moment, he thought that he had allowed apprehension to cross his features. "What is it, Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke smiled to himself at the sudden shocked expression that had fallen onto Kabuto's face for a moment. He had seen it, even though Kabuto had tried to hide it. "This seal..." he said slowly as he indicated to his shoulder where he knew that Kabuto knew he had a cursed seal, "...tell me about it."

"Wh-what do you want to know?" Kabuto's voice was shaking now. He couldn't hide his fear. Sasuke knew that Kabuto must know something about the cursed seal. The right arm of Orochimaru-sama must know more than even his container-to-be.

"How does it work? What does it do?" Sasuke's tone was serious. There was no way that Kabuto could get around it.

"You should ask Orochimaru-sama about it, Sasuke-sama. I am not qualified to answer such ques–"

"Just tell me what you know," Sasuke said with the half-growl in his voice that indicated his resolve.

Kabuto was silent as he tried to think of what to do. He certainly couldn't just tell Sasuke the truth, could he? Orochimaru would never allow it!

"Tell me what exactly this cursed seal does."

The grey-haired man could feel the air around him thicken as Sasuke's angry patience thinned. Kabuto couldn't help but feel the suffocating pressure of Sasuke's anger press down on him. He had to tell him. He had to tell him! If he didn't do it, he would surely die!

"I–It acts as a medium for your chakra!" And Kabuto felt the pressure rise from his body. He looked at Sasuke with shaky eyes, but the dark-haired boy just sat there, as if nothing had happened, as coolly as if he was Orochimaru on his throne. "It allows you to access your full power."

Sasuke frowned unnoticeably to anyone around him but himself. That wasn't something that was helping Orochimaru in the argument. If he was just using his own power, then he didn't really need Orochimaru at all.

"The closer you are to Orochimaru-sama, the easier it is to access that power...but that's not all."

Sasuke's ears perked up at that. There was something else?

"After the first transformation, the seal is ingrained and permanent. Technically, proximity to Orochimaru-sama is not required." Kabuto could see Sasuke's hands clench tightly closed, white knuckles burning in the dark. This wasn't something that Sasuke wanted to hear. "However..."

For a moment, Sasuke relaxed his hands, allowed himself a small reprieve. There was more. He hadn't just wasted three years' worth of time on useless training.

"...if the recipient doesn't have a high reserve of chakra within him, the cursed seal allows him to borrow chakra from Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto didn't want to tell Sasuke this, but the pressure around him was still pressing on him, urging him to continue. Sasuke wasn't going to let him go yet. "Closer proximity to Orochimaru-sama allows you to better access that power." Kabuto felt as if he was going to explode. His eyes were throbbing under the intensity of Sasuke's killing intent. "That's all! I swear!"

Kabuto fell to his knees in a fit of cold sweat and shivers. For a moment, he thought that Sasuke was going to say something. He had told him everything that he knew. And that was _all_ he knew. There was nothing more.

But, Sasuke just rose from his seat, walked to the door and left. Kabuto couldn't know what was going on within that dark mind, but it wasn't really as dark as the spectacled-nin thought. Within, it was clear, and Sasuke knew that he had found his answer. Orochimaru was too weak to lend him the power he needed to defeat a member of Akatsuki, much less his brother. No. He had the strength he sought. Now, he had to get stronger...away from Orochimaru.

**I**tachi rose from his seat, stretching his tired legs. He had sat for such a long time, for close to three weeks...alone. He wondered where Kisame was, was annoyed that he wasn't here, had decided to torture him with a genjutsu next time he sees him. But he wasn't going to worry over Kisame anymore. That was something best left for later. What was more important was that it was now time. He needed to make his way to Konoha. He couldn't wait any longer. If he did, Naruto wouldn't survive the genjutsu.

The elder Uchiha looked around one more time before walking southeast toward the hidden village. He knew that the blue man would know where he was. If he returned and found Itachi missing, he would just come to Konoha. What was important...what was _really _important, was that they go on with their plan.

Their plan was simple. Itachi had thought it through before implementing it, although Kisame had thought that it was a little stupid. But, Itachi managed to convince him with a little genjutsu. Nothing big. It wasn't as if he used Tsukiyomi on him. Kisame wasn't good enough to waste Tsukiyomi upon.

They had encountered the jinchuuriki several times by now, and every time, he had gotten away. And Itachi had figured out why. They had allowed the boy a chance to resist every time. He had fought them every time, or had people around him who helped him fight...or both. It irritated Itachi.

So, he thought of a way to get rid of that problem. This genjutsu was just the thing he needed too. With the blond jinchuuriki incapacitated, there was no way that he could fight back. And he wouldn't fight back even if he were to wake. That was the secret of his plan. Even if he was awake, Naruto wouldn't run from Sasuke.

Itachi hadn't chosen himself to look like Sasuke, but he realized it after a short while whom it was that the blond was dreaming about. Sasuke. The name was bitter even in the elder Uchiha's mind. Out of everyone in the entire village. The Hokage. Kakashi. The Sannin Jiraiya. Friends whom he had known for far longer, and was probably far closer to him than Itachi's stupid little brother. Even with so many people around him...the blond was dreaming of Sasuke!

It was irritating.

He didn't really know why, but it was irritating.

**I**n the race between the Uchiha brothers to Naruto, Itachi had won. The long-haired shinobi was far stronger, far more powerful, far swifter than his younger counterpart. It wasn't even close.

So, Itachi stood in front of the blond boy, his hand poised over his body in anticipation of an order from his brain to snatch him from his sickbed and drag him back to Akatsuki. But the order didn't come. Outside there had been more than a dozen ANBU guards in anticipation of Itachi's attack–although they didn't really know that it was going to be Itachi attacking otherwise they would have assigned a few more powerful, more experienced and just plain more ANBU to watch over Naruto–and Itachi had to incapacitate all of them to get here. And after all that work, he still couldn't do it.

However, to say that he couldn't do it was only a half-truth. Itachi could do it. He could easily throw the boy over his shoulder, or hold him in his arms, and shunshin away before anyone even realized he was standing there.

But, Itachi was never one to do such crude work. That was supposed to be Kisame's job. So, instead of just grabbing hold of the jinchuuriki and running, he decided to do something better.

He had already thought of it before, so it wasn't hard to do. The hard part was maintaining the genjutsu when the boy was awake...but it wasn't as if he had anything to worry about. The only way that the blond could figure out that it was a genjutsu would be if the real Sasuke were to stand beside him to confuse him. But, Itachi was sure that there was very little chance of that happening. Sasuke wasn't in Konoha anymore.

"Naruto, wake up," Itachi said, shaking the boy. Within his mind, he was pondering over whether that was really something Sasuke would say, or not. He was sure that he had heard him say it before...but he couldn't be completely sure of himself. His mind kept wandering to the Sasuke he knew years ago, when they were all still living under the same house. And it wasn't helping.

The blond boy sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked around for a moment before looking at Itachi. "Sasuke? Why am I in the hospital?" He was confused. He believed that he was still in the dream.

"You had a high fever so I had to bring you to the hospital." Itachi took a step back as Naruto stood up and began searching for his clothes. After a moment, Itachi took them out of the closet for the blond.

"I had a fever?" Naruto looked at his black shirt, his orange jacket and pants for a silent moment before taking off his bedclothes and putting them on. They were clean enough to wear for now. At least until they got home and he could get some cleaner clothes on.

Itachi eyed Naruto's uncovered body for a moment before looking away. He guessed that the blond had probably undressed in front of Sasuke before, at least in the dream if not in reality...but never in front of Itachi. The elder Uchiha tried very hard to ignore the momentary glare of Naruto's bare skin before it was covered up with modest clothing.

"Sasuke," Naruto said as he brought his arms around Itachi in a loose embrace. "Daijoubu des-ka? You seem a little out of it." The blond stared into red eyes which he only saw as the darkest black.

To Naruto, it seemed as if Sasuke was just standing there. He hadn't brought his arms up around him, like he had done before. The blond was a little concerned. In the dream, he and Sasuke were...

The jinchuuriki brought his hand up to smooth away the hitai-ate on Itachi's forehead. He pressed his hand against the Uchiha's brow for a moment before putting his hand on his own forehead. He didn't have a fever.

"You don't have a fever now," Itachi said with a slight, atypical smile as he grabbed the hitai-ate that was slipping from his hair. If he didn't get it now, it would just fall to the ground unheeded, and he would probably forget it. Then, they would know that he was here...and he couldn't have that.

"But..." Naruto wasn't checking to see if _he_ had a fever. He was checking to see if Sasuke had a fever! "...I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with you, Sas–"

Naruto thought he had fallen for a moment. Everything within him just rose into his throat...like the sensation of dropping several feet very suddenly and very quickly. It took another moment for him to fully realize that "Sasuke" had grabbed him, that he was kissing him...in such a way that he had never done before.

Itachi hadn't planned it. In fact, at first, he was going to smack the blond shinobi in the face for even attempting to say his little brother's name in front of him again. But then, he remembered that Naruto really believed that he was Sasuke. And that annoyed him even more.

His goal was to destroy Sasuke, wholly and completely. Physically... Mentally... Socially... Naruto was his chance to do that. Without Naruto, his brother had nothing.

And he just wanted the blond to stop calling him Sasuke.

They were so engrossed in what they were doing that they didn't even hear the door open, didn't notice a dark-haired boy standing in the doorway, didn't realize the dark glare boring through their bodies.

But they heard the shout, the angry battle cry that rang as surely through the hospital as an emergency call, sending Naruto flying backwards into the generic white mattress of the sickroom. And as the blond looked up at the Sasuke that was kissing him only a moment before, he saw a sharp kunai in his hand pressed against the spark-inducing kunai of his opponent, Sasuke.

**End Chapter 6**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's the many uses of "—" for those who want to know. Well, I don't actually use the elongated hyphen, or dash, for many uses; there's only two that I know of and use it for. Firstly, there's the dash at the end of the sentence. Usually, this denotes someone cutting off the speaker, either because they're speaking over the initial sentence or because someone has physically attacked the speaker. Something has made the speaker stop speaking in the middle of the sentence. If you read closely, you'll see a few examples in this story. The other use is two dashes enclosing a statement. Usually, this is a second thought or additional information to the current sentence that doesn't really have a place within the paragraph or on its own, but this information helps the reader understand better what is said and is necessary to enjoy the story; however, if this additional information was to be written separately, it wouldn't match the story's continuity. There are examples of the two dashes flanking a statement in the story as well. Many people use parentheses "( " and " )" for this same purpose, but what parentheses are for is best left for another chapter. Continuity will be explained next chapter.

Fire's babbling:

Orochimaru: Sasuke-kun left me?

Fire: Uh…yes?

Orochimaru: Sasuke-kun left me!

Fire: Uh…yes, Orochimaru. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Orochimaru: But Sasuke-kun can't leave me!

Sasuke: I just did, Ojii-san.

Orochimaru: Kabuto! I'm going to lock you in a cage, baka! You're not supposed to tell Sasuke-kun something like that! (walks to Kabuto with killer intent in his eyes)

Fire: Well, that's the last time I'm inviting Orochimaru to my babbling column, at least in this story.

Kakashi: (nodding in agreement) Yes. I definitely agree.

Fire: Everyone else is happy with the—

Sasuke: He kissed my dobe?

Fire: Uh…yes?

Sasuke: He kissed my dobe!

Fire: Uh…yes, Sasuke. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Sasuke: But Itachi can't kiss my dobe!

Itachi: I just did, otouto.

Sasuke: I'm going to kill you! Don't defile my dobe with your cursed lips!

Naruto: (looks at Itachi) Sasuke? (looks at Sasuke) Sasuke?

Itachi: (shunshins away) …

Sasuke: Arrgh!

Fire: Having a bad day?

Sasuke: Arrgh!

Kakashi: I think Sasuke's going to have an emotional breakdown.

Fire: In that case, better leave a review and close the window quick. He might shoot a katon out the window.

Kakashi: At least he won't be hitting me.

Fire: That's not a good thing for the readers! Review! Review before Sasuke hits you with a katon!

Sasuke: (handseals: tiger, monkey, boar, horse, tiger) Katon gokak—

Fire: (grabs Sasuke and muffles his mouth) Now, close the window before he kills us all! See you next chapter…if we survive!

Sasuke: (struggling to get free) lmght mggh!

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	7. Facets of Apprehension

Fire: Chapter 7! Time for celebration!

Sasuke: Is it the end of the story?

Fire: (throws confetti in Sasuke's hair) No.

Sasuke: Then, no party!

Fire: Okay…then, reviews! (turns to Kakashi) Reviews!

Kakashi: (drags out the Bag of Reviews) Aren't you spoiled this chapter?

Fire: I'm not spoiled!

Kakashi: Just read this review. (hands Fire a review)

Fire: I know some of the readers out there don't like ItaNaru, but it's completely necessary to the story, at least this story. If I have completely nauseated anyone out there, gomen nasai. There's just a little more ItaNaru, then I'll get back to the SasuNaru. But I want to remind everyone out there that this story does run into the first book of the _Wait for Me series_ so you should really be reading _Wait for Me: Leaving_ if you want SasuNaru.

Sasuke: But there will be SasuNaru in this story, right?

Fire: Yes, but not to the extent that the other books have. The SasuNaru in this story just sets up the SasuNaru in the next book and the books after that.

Sasuke: I hate you.

Fire: And I won't be copyrighting the "dirty work" or "crude work" only done by Kisame. That was something I came across while analyzing Itachi's character from the anime and manga so it really does belong to Kishimoto-sensei. I just happened to put it in those words. If anyone out there wants to use it, then go ahead although I'm sure that you'll have to put it in other words than mine. That might be called plagiarism and plagiarism is illegal. And I will sue, even if it's only a fanfic.

Kakashi: Enough threats. Roll chapter 7!

Unseen staff: (mumbling as they pull up chapter 7) Roll it yourself, slave driver.

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**Chapter 7: Facets of Apprehension**

**I**n truth, Sasuke had arrived in Konoha first. He should have been the first one to enter that sickroom...except he couldn't bring himself to walk through those gates. He had stood on that rise for what seemed like hours, staring at the village below. But somehow, he couldn't quell the uneasy feeling in his stomach enough to go.

However, he couldn't not go home. He had come all this way just to see them...just to see him. Naruto was still on his mind.

It wasn't as if he didn't know where the blond was. While in Otogakure, he had his own personal spy to keep an eye on Naruto. There was unimaginable frustration storming inside him when he discovered that the jinchuuriki was in the hospital...for no other reason than that he had collapsed. The spy didn't tell him why he had collapsed. And it was killing him not knowing.

Sasuke had wanted to run to the hospital, had wanted to grab Naruto by the shoulders, had wanted to hug him and tell him that he would be fine...even though he had no idea what was wrong with him. As long as he was with Naruto, nothing bad could happen to them.

But he couldn't leave. Not then. That was one of the reasons why he couldn't bring himself to walk through those gates. It had been such a long time since Naruto first collapsed. It had been an entire month and a week. Even if Naruto had recovered by now, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that the blond would be angry with him for not coming sooner. He was supposed to be his best friend. He should have come running.

'_Chikusho!'_ The dark-haired nin grabbed the Oto hitai-ate on his forehead and threw it aside before making his way down toward the village. If he didn't go now, when was he supposed to go?

But, the nukenin wasn't stupid enough to just walk through the front gates. He didn't have a shinobi passport...although without a hitai-ate, they wouldn't even know that he was a shinobi. However, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he was an Uchiha.

He had never wanted to be someone else more than at that moment. He had wished for it before, more than once. He wanted an easier life, without all these obligations. He didn't used to have all these obligations before, although it was still hard. Being ignored by his parents wasn't exactly easy...but he wanted to be ignored now. Even if they didn't know that he was a shinobi, he had the Uchiha air about him. They would know right away that he was Uchiha Sasuke. He _looked_ like Uchiha Sasuke.

But, there was more than one way to get inside the village. He wasn't here to cause trouble. He wasn't here to wander around the village. He was here to see Naruto. All he needed to do was get to the hospital.

So, he shunshin-ed. It was the easiest thing he could think of that would get him where he wanted to go. That was what it was for anyway. Shunshin no jutsu was created for spying. It was supposed to allow spies to get in and out of places without being noticed. And that was exactly what he needed.

Sasuke found himself within the hospital walls soon enough, and of course no one had seen him. He didn't need anyone to take him there. He could feel where Naruto was...not to mention his spy had told him exactly which room Naruto was staying in. At least the spy was good for something.

The younger Uchiha had expected the room to be empty. He had expected that Naruto would be better by now. No matter how injured he was...no matter how much he was in pain...Naruto always sprang back to perfect health after a little rest. He had thought that this was no different. He had thought that Naruto was just tired.

He didn't know about the genjutsu. He didn't know about Itachi.

All he knew was that there was the sound of a muffled familiar name as his hand reached for the doorknob. And he knew that someone was in there. In fact, there were two people in there.

For a moment, he was curious about who could be with Naruto. The second person hadn't said a word. All Sasuke knew as he threw the door open was that this person had managed to silence the loudmouth ninja with ease.

And as the door swung away from him, the sight that met his eyes made his blood boil with sudden anger. Shaking hands hovered over his shuriken pouches as his dark eyes burrowed through the entwined figure. Naruto was hugging Itachi so tightly, his head tilted back in a kiss so gratingly annoying so as to blind Sasuke. This wasn't the chaste kiss of children, the sweet kiss shared between lovers at hello. This was the horribly deep, ravenously seductive kiss of two people needing, wanting each other. This was the kind of kiss that gouged at the eyes and tore at the soul, a kiss that was enjoyable only when participating in it.

The sight of Naruto clinging to his brother in such a way was burning Sasuke inside.

"Itachi!" He screamed out in fury as his hands came away from his shuriken pouches, a kunai in one hand and a shuriken in the other. Before he could even make his way across the room, the shuriken was already embedded in the far wall, Naruto was thrown onto the bed and Itachi had come up to meet him, a kunai in hand.

The kunai shook in Itachi's hand as he stared at his brother. There was something different about him, although he couldn't exactly place what that difference was. But he figured it out after a short while. As Itachi flicked the shining kunai from his brother's hand, he could see exactly what it was. Sasuke was actually angry. There was that killer intent that was always there...but there was anger there now too. And it somehow filled Itachi with a peaceful calm that he hadn't felt within his chest for a long time. He had finally succeeded in destroying his little brother.

But, in a forgotten part of the room, there was someone whose heart was anything but calm. Naruto stared at the two figures standing in opposition to each other, a kunai in each of their hands, as similar as if Sasuke was fighting his mirror image. And Sasuke was fighting his mirror image!

"Agh!" Naruto's head dropped to the side as he felt a huge rusty nail smash through his head...not literally, but that was what it felt like. His hand flew up to catch his head, but the headache wouldn't stop.

The Kyuubi was clawing at Naruto's mind. **_Kit! Kit! You hear me now?_** The Kyuubi was shouting at him in such an urgent tone that it confused Naruto even more.

'_Why wouldn't I hear you, damned kitsune? You're yelling so loudly!'_

A small smile graced the Kyuubi's face. **_Seems as if you broke out of that damned genjutsu finally,_** the kitsune said as he looked around. For a moment, he really thought that the ice would get him, that he would be sealed away forever. He was relieved, but he wasn't going to tell Naruto any of that. Knowing the blond shinobi, the Kyuubi was likely to never hear the end of it if he told him.

"Gen...j't...su?" Naruto hadn't even realized...

But as he looked across the room to where the two Sasuke's were standing only a moment before, there was only one Sasuke, and one older Sasuke with long black hair and a black cloak.

Naruto's mind allowed itself a moment to stared at the unknown man before he remembered the shout with which he had been thrown away. "Itachi!"

And in that sudden outburst, the elder Uchiha pulled his hand away, Sasuke's kunai catching on his hand. A stream of blood flew in a trail marking the hand's arc as Itachi turned to Naruto with wide eyes. The calm that had entered his chest was gone. There was only panic now, and a strange disappointment...and a foreign need to explain himself. "Naruto...I–" But he couldn't finish his explanation.

Sasuke threw himself at his brother with a horrific wordless shout, with such intense anger so as to shake the entire village.

**W**ithin the Hokage tower, in an area that not even the most powerful of tokubetsu jounin could tread freely, Tsunade sat up suddenly in her bed. Her entire body felt constricted, was tight with a heavy presence. Every muscle in her body throbbed with cold sweat, with irrational fear. And she knew, something was wrong. There was no mistaking it. She could tell that something was very wrong. Even the night's still falling snow outside her window couldn't be causing the intense force that weighed her limbs so completely.

'_Naruto!'_ The first thought, the only thought that flew into her mind was Naruto. This heavy dread that anchored her to the ground...this thick scent of murderous chakra could only be here for one person. Naruto.

The woman jumped out of bed, ignoring the fact that she was in her pyjamas and it was freezing outside. She needed to get people to the hospital. She needed to get to the hospital. Now!

"Shizune!" Even if she couldn't get to the hospital immediately, she could still send the ANBU there. "Shizune!"

But the dark-haired woman was already up and running toward the exit. She came by only to tell the Hokage of their situation, and only stopped long enough to say a short sentence to Tsunade. "The ANBU are on their way, Tsunade-sama." And Shizune ran after her team.

She had felt that ominous chakra as well, long before Tsunade had woken from her sleep. And she had readied her team. She knew that it was probably too late to be of much use, but she could try. She had to try. She wouldn't allow them to take Naruto and the Kyuubi without a fight.

**End Chapter 7**

---------------------------

**Itachi's Genjutsu Explained: Supplementary**

Fire: This is a supplementary to the supplementary. Yes, this is frequent in real reports. Ongoing missions will have this especially.

Sasuke: Mendokuse.

Fire: I'm going to start calling you Shikamaru.

Sasuke: Just go on with it so that we can get to the English tidbits.

---

**T**he advanced genjutsu has a secondary ability that can be activated if the need arises. Although the illusion is based solely within the victim's subconscious mind, the secondary ability allows the user to create the illusion outside the subconscious. But this can only happen after the initial ability—rendering the victim unconscious and establishing an illusion—has taken place, and at least approximately a month of time has passed since the initial onset of the genjutsu.

A month's time is necessary to make sure that the user's chakra has infiltrated the victim's chakra circulatory system completely. If not enough time has passed, the already fragile illusion would be even more unstable, and the genjutsu might not take place. For this same reason, the initial ability must also take place. It allows the user's chakra to establish a strong foothold within the chakra circulatory system of the victim so that the illusion can take place more easily.

An illusion outside the subconscious is not a new idea. Most genjutsu is based on this same principle. Kokohi no jutsu, Magen narakumi no jutsu, and Kori shinchuu no jutsu are all based on seeing a genjutsu based in the real world. The secondary ability of the advanced genjutsu especially takes its cues from Kokohi no jutsu which changes the appearance of a nearby object.

This difference between the secondary ability and Kokohi no jutsu is that the secondary ability is much more fragile. The reason is because the object on which the illusion is cast is a living person, and the genjutsu is continued from the victim's mind. If there is anything in reality that can prove that it is a genjutsu, the illusion will break. In this case, the only thing in reality that can prove to Naruto that he is under a genjutsu will be Sasuke since Naruto sees Itachi as Sasuke and if Sasuke was to stand beside Itachi, it would look like there were two Sasuke's. And there couldn't possibly be two Sasuke's. This is as opposed to Kokohi no jutsu which continues even after the illusion is discovered until the user decides to end the illusion.

Another main difference between the advanced genjutsu and regular genjutsu is that usually, when a living person is imitated, there is no real substance to it. There isn't actually a person there. If the victim was to touch the illusion, the victim's hand will just go through it. With the secondary ability, the illusion is cast over a real person, so there is form to the genjutsu. If the victim tries to touch the illusion, his hand won't just go through it. In reality, the victim will be touching the object on which the genjutsu was cast, but what he sees and what he feels will be still be within the confines of the illusion. So, if Sasuke was wearing a hitai-ate in the illusion and Itachi wasn't wearing a hitai-ate in reality, and Naruto was to touch Itachi's forehead, as long as he is under the genjutsu, Naruto will feel a hitai-ate there, even if there isn't one there in reality. This is because all five senses are still under the user's control, even if the victim is no longer unconscious.

In total, the secondary ability of the advanced genjutsu allows the user to directly pull the illusion from the subconscious into reality, and make it so real that it confuses reality with fantasy. The only way to break the illusion is to prove the existence of the genjutsu by creating a situation that couldn't happen in reality, like two Sasuke's standing side by side. However, in order to activate this secondary ability, at least a month's time must have passed since the initial onset of the advanced genjutsu so that the user's chakra has created a strong hold on the victim, and so that the illusion doesn't shatter due to chakra deficiency.

In addition to all these things, there is an ability unknown even to Itachi. The advanced genjutsu has a negative effect when reacting to the double chakra of a jinchuuriki. A jinchuuriki has two chakra sources: the actually jinchuuriki and the bijuu. As such, when the advanced genjutsu takes control of the chakra circulatory system of the jinchuuriki, a barrier appears between the source of two chakras. The bijuu sees this barrier as different manifestations of threats. In this case, the Kyuubi saw it as approaching ice seeking to restrain him. In reality, the user's chakra has completely severed the bijuu's ability to connect to the jinchuuriki's chakra circulatory system. The bijuu was restrained completely. Prolonged exposure might even have resulted in the permanent sealing of the bijuu's chakra. And since a bijuu is made of chakra, this might have become a problem for Itachi. If he had known of this negative effect, Itachi wouldn't have used this technique to incapacitate Naruto. It would have been too risky since they really did want the bijuu, not the jinchuuriki.

---

Fire: And that's the end of the explanations.

Sasuke: Wow. That was long! I thought I'd fall asleep.

Fire: Was it really that boring?

Sasuke: Yes.

Fire: Well, you won't have to sit through another one of those again. Good thing you're not Hokage. You'd have to read these all day. No wonder Tsunade can't stay awake.

Sasuke: Have some English tidbits! (pulls up the English tidbits)

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Everyone must be scratching their heads over what continuity is. If you've figured it out, you don't have to read this, but for the editors and betas out there, this is important. And it's even more important if you're a writer. Continuity is one of the properties of a story. It helps make a good story. You certainly won't learn this in school or writing classes, so listen carefully. A story has several primary components: plot, character, setting, etc. I'm sure you've learned about all this, even if it's only implied in your subconscious. However, there are additional properties separate from these primary components: continuity, character development (separate from character), grammar, devices, etc. The first set of components is basic to a story. The best example is in children's stories which don't employ any of the additional properties. Additional properties come in more complicated storylines like general fiction and really, really good SF or fantasy. Continuity can be one of the most important properties of a story. It is the flow of a story akin to plot. This means that foreshadowing actually foreshadows something. Continuity means that the storyline is consistent, the development of plot is consistent, the development of all characters is consistent, and all sentences run into each other and make sense together as a whole. Read one section of a chapter, then read it with all the sections of a chapter—read the chapter as a whole—and finally read it all together with the entire story. Or at least read the chapter before it and the chapter after it together. If it flows into each other naturally, you've developed continuity. If your answer is, "Huh? What is it trying to say?" then you should go back and add or take out whatever is necessary to revise your work. The people who create manga and anime certainly know what I'm talking about. If you read the credits of an anime, they actually have entire lists of names dedicated to continuity, so it must be important, right? I'll be going through the entire list of additional properties before going to parentheses so next week is character development. Until then, don't hate me for these long tidbits. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep them short.

Fire's babbling:

Naruto: Waah! Why are there two Sasuke's! That's not possible!

Sasuke: …

Fire: Naruto, calm down.

Naruto: Waah! Why was Itachi kissing me! Waah!

Itachi: …

Fire: Naruto, calm down!

Naruto: Waah! Why was Itachi kissing me like that! Waah!

Kakashi: (punches Naruto in the head) I knew he'd freak out like this.

Fire: It seems as if Naruto forgot what happened. (sighs)

Itachi: I wanted to completely destroy Sasuke's social life.

Fire: All part of the plan, right? (smiles at Itachi)

Sasuke: You can't take Naruto from me. You'll never take Naruto away from me!

Fire: Well, while we give them a little family therapy… (dodges a shuriken) …please send us a review.

Sasuke: I'll kill you before then! (charges toward Itachi)

Itachi: (shunshins away) …

Kisame: (slumps pathetically) Why am I missing?

Fire: Samehada's hungry.

Kisame: Oh. (shunshins after Itachi)

Fire: Review and tell us what you think. I want to know everything!

Kakashi: Still the review freak...

Fire: And I'll just beat up Kakashi while we wait for the next chapter.

Kakashi: You're not strong enough to do that. (dodges all of Fire's attacks) Besides, you're done with the entire story, just load everything!

Fire: (stops and thinks for a moment) Hmm…load everything? No. I think it's best to just load one chapter every week like I've been doing. Nice try though, Kakashi. (smiles)

Kakashi: Well, see you next chapter. Send all your complaints and requests to Fire.

Sasuke: Hey! Don't I get to say anything!

Fire: You were yelling at Itachi. We're done.

Sasuke: Chikusho!

Kakashi: Ja ne!

---------------------------


	8. Facets of Pain

Fire: This is Chapter 8. It's almost the end now.

Sasuke: I can't believe Naruto doesn't believe I'm the real Sasuke!

Fire: Are you the real Sasuke?

Sasuke: Yes!

Kakashi: (pulls the Bag of Reviews out quickly) Must change the subject with some reviews. Must change the… (rummages in the bag for some reviews) …subject with some reviews. Here! (holds out the review window to Fire)

Fire: (takes the review) Arigatou, Kakashi!

Kakashi: Just read it.

Fire: Slaver driver.

Kakashi: (slumps) Just read it so we can get on with the story.

Fire: I already have!

Kakashi: And?

Fire: I replied using the reply button!

Kakashi: Anything you want to address in general before I pull up the first chapter?

Fire: Here's some general information. For people who want me to upload all the chapters at once, there really aren't that many chapters left, so I don't think I'll do it. And if I did, Sasuke will probably kill me.

Sasuke: I don't want to do it.

Fire: There are ten chapters and an epilogue, so if you exclude this chapter, there are two chapters and an epilogue left.

Kakashi: That doesn't really help.

Fire: Okay! There are three chapters left for people who want to read the epilogue and two chapters left for people who don't want to read the epilogue. It all ends on a cliffhanger since it runs into the first book of the Wait for Me Series, _Wait for Me: Leaving_ anyway!

Sasuke: Fire's beginning to lose it. Better hurry on with the chapter.

Fire: Matte! I want the last word!

Sasuke: I get the last word. There it is! (pulls up chapter 8)

---------------------------

**Chapter 8: Facets of Pain**

**A**s Kisame walked back toward the Taki no kuni/Hi no Kuni border after his fight with Sasuke–and a few other not so short fights along the way–Samehada was complaining on his back, but there was never any time when the sword wasn't annoying him. The sword was always hungry.

And Samehada was tugging at him again. **_Chakra! Chakra! That way!_** Samehada pointed to the north. **_Big chakra! Big chakra that way!_**

Kisame sighed as he looked in the direction Samehada was pointing. He was sure that it wasn't that big of a chakra, but Samehada was still hungry. There was no way that he could just leave it alone. His sword wasn't going to shut up if he didn't let it eat. And he wasn't going to get any peace until he found that chakra.

'_Chikusho. And we're almost back too!'_ Kisame allowed his sword to drag him away, almost in the exact opposite direction he was headed in. But it wasn't as if Itachi would be more angry if he was distracted for a few extra days. He had already spent enough time feeding Samehada. A few extra days weren't going to make a difference. What was a few extra days when he had already spent more than a month away from their base?

"Che! If Itachi beats me up, I'm not feeding you for a month," he grumbled to Samehada. But he had to admit, it was good to be away from Itachi every once in a while.

**T**he sound of clashing kunai filled the air amid bewildered stares from the blond jinnchuuriki. Naruto was staring because he knew the truth. He wouldn't have been staring if he could deny it. And there was no denying what he suspected. The Sasuke that he had dreamed of, and the Sasuke that stood here in this sickroom were the same Sasuke, but different.

His Sasuke was the Sasuke of memory. Blue shirt with Uchiha crest on the back. White-beige shorts with black shuriken pouches on the side and a sandy beige kunai pouch on the back. White arm-warmers with blue trim on either arm. Soft black hair that blew around his head when he fought.

At least the hair was right.

He should have known that they would change...but he didn't want to imagine that it might happen. He had wanted to pretend that nothing would change between them, that Sasuke was still here, that they could still grow up together and be shinobi together. But after all that time, all the waiting and all the searching, he just couldn't take it anymore.

He had known that he had left, that he had gone to Orochimaru, that he was gone...and after all that time, he had to allow himself some denial, some fantasy to keep himself sane. After being alone for so long, he finally had someone to share his loneliness, someone who understood what it was like to be alone, someone who trusted him completely...only to have Sasuke leave. That was enough to drive him insane.

The Sasuke he had imagined was the Sasuke of long ago. It was the Sasuke who had kissed him, had shared his days with him and had kept him company. That was the Sasuke that loved him.

But that was only a dream.

The Sasuke who stood in front of him was different. As Naruto had suspected, there was no hitai-ate. He remembered that he had given it back to him right before he left, but he had always imagined Sasuke with a Konoha hitai-ate on his head. And he was taller. That was all Naruto could admit to. His clothes were different, but the blond ignored it. It was hard to focus on the clothes when the face that he remembered in his dreams was right in front of him.

But that kiss... Just the memory of that kiss was enough to make Naruto's breath flutter, his mind swim with dizziness. Even in his dreams, Sasuke had never kissed him like that.

"Stop fighting," Naruto said slowly as he regained his footing. He focussed on the Uchiha brothers in front of him again. "Stop fighting! We're in a hospital!" Although it was a lame excuse for what Naruto was feeling at that moment. He could feel the equivalent of every one of Karasu's hidden weapons skewering his body from the inside...every katana of every ANBU in Konoha slicing his skin apart...every knife and senbon in the hospital embedding themselves in his bleeding chest. "Itachi!" His blood was rushing through his body and he wanted to stop them even though he was still too frozen to do it, and his shouting wasn't quite loud enough with the searing pain that was spreading through his chest.

However, they heard it just the same.

"Nani!" Sasuke turned quickly to Naruto, all thoughts of his brother gone for that one split second. He didn't just hear what he thought he had heard. He_ couldn't _have heard what he thought he had heard.

Naruto covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes wide as they stared at Sasuke. His unbeating heart crashed through the floor at the Uchiha's word. He couldn't believe what he had just said. He was sure that he didn't just say what he thought he had said. But that wasn't all. Cold sweat broke out over his body as he felt red eyes watching him.

Itachi was staring at him.

'_Stop staring at me. Stop staring at me!' _Naruto felt his heart leap from the ground into his throat to choke him, felt his chest tighten, his face beaming bright red in embarrassment at the continuing stare. _'Sasuke's right here!'_

"What...did...you...say?" Sasuke was brimming with smouldering anger. His dark eyes stared hard at Naruto.

The blond took a cautious step back. He didn't remember Sasuke being so angry...but he might have forgotten. It had been such a long time since they were last together. "I–it's a hospital. You can't fight in here!" He looked to Itachi who only looked away from him. They had actually stopped fighting! Naruto couldn't believe that the Uchiha brothers were actually standing in the same room with each other, and they weren't killing each other! They were just standing there. "H–how about we just go outside for a little while?" The pain in his chest was becoming worse. He wasn't sure how much longer he could even stand like this.

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a while longer before looking at his brother once more. It was going to take a lot more for him to forget about Itachi. Just because Naruto said to stop didn't mean that he _was_ going to stop. He had hated him for years.

It was too late to stop now.

"How about...no!" Sasuke redirected the anger that had flared up at Naruto's outburst of "Itachi" to Itachi. He didn't want to be angry at Naruto. He_ shouldn't _be angry at Naruto. That was why he had the bastard.

Sasuke sprang at his brother, three kunai and shuriken in each hand.

It took a moment for Itachi to make the decision, but he jumped right at Naruto as soon as he saw the shuriken in his brother's hands. The six tomoe in Sasuke's red eyes spun as Itachi fell through the first floor window to the outside air. He hadn't expected that Itachi would try to run–since Itachi wasn't a coward–but he had expected that he would go for Naruto. He was supposed to be here for the jinchuuriki after all.

With an inaudible curse under his breath, the younger Uchiha jumped through the broken window, after his elder brother. He knew that Itachi couldn't get away that easily. With the snow all around them, his footprints would definitely give his position away. There was no way that Itachi could go anywhere without Sasuke following.

However, Itachi was nowhere near his brother. He had Naruto. Now was the time to get back to Akatsuki. He was already blocks away from the hospital. It shouldn't be that difficult. It shouldn't _have been_ difficult.

But Naruto's quiet whisper into his chest momentarily froze Itachi to the ground. "Was it you?" He was close...so close to leaving and returning to Akatsuki with the jinchuuriki in hand, and the elder Uchiha couldn't make his body move. The weight of the blond boy that clung to his chest for support was too much.

"..." He held the blond tight, half afraid that he would escape, half afraid of something he didn't understand. "..." That something which Naruto was clinging to, that question which Naruto had whispered. He didn't understand what Naruto wanted from him. He just wanted to capture him for the organization. That was all. There was no hidden agenda behind it.

"Itachi..."

The Kyuubi was shouting at Naruto. His head ached from the kitsune's repeated screams, even as his chest threatened to burst with suppressed pressure. **_'Kill him. Kill him. He just wants to kill you!'_** The Kyuubi was screaming at him, and he couldn't stand it.

"Itachi..." Naruto clutched the elder man in his shaking arms. Even in the intense pain that called for attention, his mind dwelled on that one question. He couldn't accept that the Sasuke he had dreamt of didn't exist. He was real. What they had was real. And that meant that... "It was you, wasn't it?" ...it had to be Itachi. Itachi cared about him. That had to be true! Even if he had to kill him, that had to be true.

"No." Itachi's single answer was cold and final. There was no way around it. There was no mistaking what he said for anything other than what it was. No. "Forget what you dreamt. It was nothing." A single kunai in Naruto's heart... "It wasn't me." ...and it went all the way through. Pain spread through the blond's body as surely as the blood through his veins. Even though it was dulled against a backdrop of pain that was already there, there was the unmistakable pain of knowing. It was all a dream. It was only a dream.

The blond squeezed his eyes shut as he crumpled against the solid wall that was Itachi. Finally, the Kyuubi's words were coming through. There was no way around it. He couldn't just go with Itachi. He wasn't going to just die like that. He was stronger than that.

He still had to become Hokage.

"Itachi..." he said softly as he loosened his hold on the other man, his hand reaching up to touch the taller man's face even as his other hand reached stealthily toward the kunai pouch at his side. Itachi didn't pull away, but then, Itachi had always been a calm man. He wasn't the type to pull away from anything. "Itachi..."

'_...I...'_

"I wish..."

'_...life really was as simple...'_

He closed his eyes, lightly pressed warm lips against Itachi's mouth.

'_...as simple as this.'_

And in the grey world of falling snow, there were only snowflakes to interrupt Naruto's final gesture. Then, there was only a cloud of red mist in the air.

**S**asuke couldn't find them. He looked all around and ran frantically in circles, but his own footprints only served to confuse him. And there were more than one pair of footprints on the high traffic street...not to mention that they shovelled the streets every morning so there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground to produce those footprints he was hoping for.

But he didn't need to look any further as a Naruto bunshin flew through the air pass Sasuke only to land against the wall. It vanished in a tendril of smoke as the sound of flying shuriken sliced through the air. And as the younger Uchiha turned, he could see the remnants of a red cloud hanging over the area.

The dark-haired shinobi ran toward the origin of that sound, the sound of air-cutting shuriken and clashing kunai, of vanishing bunshin and accurate attacks. He couldn't just let Naruto do all the work. He–and only he–was supposed to kill Itachi. He couldn't allow Naruto to beat him to it.

**End Chapter 8**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Welcome to character development! Yay! For stories without a major plotline, this is the most important property. Stories without a plotline only have their characters to draw in the reader, so it's important to allow your characters to grow and change. Character development as an additional property, as opposed to regular character as a basic component, is completely different in the way they look at characters of a story. With the basic component "character," you define who your character is, their mannerisms, their likes and dislikes, their psyche, etc. When you write your story, your character's actions are governed by these characteristics. On the other hand, the additional property "character development," allows you to change what you have in "character" so that your character can act completely out of character in those circumstances. That means that according to events that happen to your character during the course of your storyline, you can make your character grow and change into a completely different person. For example, Kishimoto-sensei created Sasuke as a boy who just wanted to become stronger. At the beginning of the series, Sasuke merely wanted to become a stronger shinobi. Fighting stronger opponents is a part of that goal to better himself and hone his skills. However, during his encounter with Orochimaru, he receives the cursed seal which changed his mind and revealed to him why he wanted power. It is at that point that he decides that he is an avenger, and that he will do anything for power, even if it is evil power. That sets up everything that he does later on, and it doesn't come as a surprise when he decides that he wants to kill Naruto for the sake of power. Now, I know that not all of you think you can write something like that, but the basic question to write character development is "why are they like this" and "what made them like this?" Remember that everyone has a past that made them the way they are today. Everything your characters do is because of their past. As writers, it is your job to create a past for them and chronicle it as if it was true history. I hope this wasn't too long. See you next time for grammar and devices.

Fire's babbling:

Naruto: (looks up at the English tidbits) I don't even want to try reading that.

Sasuke: Why are you talking about me again?

Fire: You're easier to use as an example.

Sasuke: Use someone else next time.

Kakashi: Use me! Use me!

Fire: I was going to use you, but that would have been spoiler content and I didn't write a warning about spoilers for this series.

Kakashi: (slumps in disappointment) Souka.

Fire: Maybe for the next story, but not in this series, okay, Kakashi?

Kakashi: Hai, hai.

Sasuke: (stares at the story) Aah! He did it again! Why does he keep kissing my dobe!

Fire: Itachi didn't do anything there. That was Naruto.

Naruto: All part of my plan!

Sasuke: (yelling at Naruto) You don't love me at all! Just admit that you love that bastard!

Fire: You're overreacting. Naruto said that he had a plan, so you should at least wait until the next episode before you crucify him.

Naruto: Yeah. Y— Hey! Don't crucify me!

Fire: Now, review! I know that you had a few thoughts and opinions on this chapter!

Ssauke: Yeah, like how Naruto can have a kunai pouch with him when he just woke up from a genjutsu-induced coma. Doesn't he have one of those surgical gowns on, or something?

Fire: No. (confused) Of course not. He was under observation with strict orders not to operate on him for fear that others might fall under the genjutsu. He wasn't there for an operation. Of course he won't be wearing a surgical gown if he isn't going into surgery!

Kakashi: Souka.

Fire: Now, review! I know you have lots to say to me. Was anything confusing or annoying? Did you like the chapter or hate the chapter? I need to know what you think! Opinions. Send me your opinions!

Sasuke: And Fire's having another meltdown. How many is it now?

Naruto: (shrugs) I'm going for some ramen. Ramen! Ramen! (walks away toward Ichiraku Ramen)

Kakashi: Several hundred?

Sasuke: Must be more.

Fire: See you next chapter when I'll hopefully be less insane. Bye!

Sasuke: You mean you have problems other than the schizophrenia?

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	9. Facets of Rain

Fire: This is chapter 9. Have you reviewed yet?

Sasuke: Don't say it like that!

Fire: Why not?

Kakashi: It's too obvious.

Fire: Then how should I say it?

Sasuke: …

Kakashi: …

Fire: Never mind. Just hand me a review. (holding a hand out to Kakashi)

Kakashi: (pulls a window from the Big Bag of Reviews and hands it to Fire) Why can't you pay me for this? I'm too high-ranking to do a D-ranked mission like this.

Fire: This is a non-profit project. (reads the window) This is a complete act of fandom and I'm just doing it for the fans.

Kakashi: Your superego must be swelling.

Fire: O.o Where did you learn that word?

Sasuke: He's been reading your psychology books.

Fire: Uh…

Sasuke: Just thank the fans for the reviews and go on with the story! We're almost done and I want to kill Itachi!

Fire: Oh! Yeah! (turns to the audience) Thanks for the reviews.

Kakashi: Good. Now the ninth chapter! (pulls up chapter 9) I should be paid for this too.

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**Chapter 9: Facets of Rain**

**U**nder the dull sky of a Yuki no Kuni winter–winter even though it was early spring now–Shizune tried to see her next step in the slippery slush. A few of her ANBU and medic-nin companions had already fallen in the foreign snow, and she didn't want to fall as well. She was the leader of this team. She had to lead by example, and her pride certainly wouldn't allow her to suffer that humiliation.

But, she didn't have to really worry about falling. She had lived outside these village walls. She had been where there was snow. She knew how to manoeuver in it.

And she heard the sound of fighting up ahead. She wouldn't have far to go now anyway. She was going to find out what that ominous chakra was, even if she might be too late.

**N**aruto wiped the blood that coated his lips from the cough. If the pain hadn't erupted from his lungs, he would have done it. He would have killed Itachi. But if the blood hadn't burst from his body, he would have drowned in it.

The blond clutched at his throbbing chest as he looked around. One. Two. Three. There were only three bunshin left. Itachi had taken them down like they were nothing. He hadn't even used kage bunshin, even though Naruto knew he could have. A former ANBU could definitely use that technique. And as Itachi smashed the last bunshin to the ground in an eddy of smoke and wind, Naruto knew that he was next.

Pain gripped his body as he moved his limbs. That loss of blood had taken more of a toll on his body than he had initially thought. The world spun around him, blurring into a new vision that ended with Itachi catching him as he fell.

Then, there was fire everywhere.

'_Katon: goukakyuu no jutsu!'_

Sasuke snatched Naruto away as Itachi's hands gripped the jinchuuriki. The younger Uchiha was fast, faster than the ball of fire that flew toward them. As Sasuke jumped away, Itachi was engulfed in flames.

The dark-haired boy thought that he had succeeded. His brother was dead, and he had Naruto back. But as the flames evaporated, there was nothing there. _'Shunshin no jutsu?'_ Sasuke turned around quickly, knowing well that his brother couldn't be anywhere in front of him. There was nothing in front of him but the flaming crater.

And Sasuke's body crashed into the pavement.

Itachi grabbed Naruto again, this time ready to escape with the jinchuuriki in hand, until he saw that the body on the ground and the body in his hands were kawarimi. He threw the block of wood to the ground before looking around, his sharingan scanning the area for his brother. Nothing could escape his sharingan.

"You can't hide from me, Otouto." Itachi's words were cold as he caught a shuriken aimed at his head. As long as he was calm, nothing escaped him. "I already know where you are." From the direction that shuriken had come from, he had already pinpointed Sasuke's location. He couldn't run with an injured boy in his arms.

"We're not hiding, baka!" Naruto shouted as a thousand shuriken flew toward Itachi from a thousand Naruto kage bunshin.

Itachi didn't know when the blond had time to do it, or if he could maintain something like tajuu kage bunshin, but he had no intention of standing there, an unmoving target. With a single wave of movement, his hands launched a multitude of kunai. The skill of an ex-ANBU taisho sent the kunai and shuriken bouncing off each other. The last shuriken ricocheted toward Sasuke in the shadows, and embedded itself in the wall by the dark head. All thousand shuriken fell in metallic rain to aim at their new target: the thousand Naruto bunshin.

It was the same level of skill that Sasuke remembered from his childhood, and he knew that if his brother had wanted to hit him, he would have. But he didn't. Itachi wasn't finished destroying Sasuke's life yet. As the nine hundred ninety-nine shuriken left in the air ran through nine hundred ninety-nine kage bunshin, Itachi caught the real jinchuuriki in hand.

"Naruto!" Sasuke leapt at the blond shinobi.

"Teme!" Naruto shouted at the air, and Sasuke didn't know whether he was yelling at him or at Itachi. The blond didn't want to be rescued like a weakling. Since their first mission, he had never needed rescuing.

With anger surging through his body, he felt the red chakra of the Kyuubi engulf him. His hands grew coarser as the talons of wild kitsune curled from his fingers to tear through his prison of black cloak and red clouds. Red eyes stared out at the arm that held him, and before Itachi could react, he tore through that arm with his sharpened animal teeth.

Sasuke was surprised for a moment before a smile formed on his face. He had forgotten about Naruto's other form. Now, his brother was really in trouble. Or at least, he thought Itachi would be in trouble, until...

...a shiver ran through Naruto's body and it convulsed in coughs. Blood covered the hand that shielded his mouth from the spasms, but both Uchiha brothers could see that the jinchuuriki wouldn't be able to fight much longer.

"Chikusho!" Sasuke ran at Itachi. If Naruto couldn't fight, then he would have to do it.

But Naruto had no intention of allowing his medical condition to slow him down. Even with his entire body vibrating with pain, the red chakra body of the Kyuubi launched itself forwards. And it ran its glowing red claw through Itachi before Sasuke could lift up a kunai. But of course, it wasn't Itachi. Unlike Sasuke, Itachi could not only see Naruto's planned movements, but he was also fast enough to react to it.

"Kawarimi-des, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he looked around for his brother. He had been so useless in this battle. He really had been away from Konoha and their proposed methods of teamwork for too long. He couldn't even remember how to fight alongside someone other than himself!

'_Where is he? Where is he?'_ Sasuke's red eyes scanned the area, and he saw him before Naruto did. _'There!'_

Itachi had hidden himself on the roof of a nearby building. Sasuke launched himself into the air toward him before the nukenin could plan his next move of attack.

Naruto was still occupied with a spasm of coughs, and the red chakra body of the Kyuubi was just waiting, but as soon as Sasuke was in the air, the Kyuubi sensed the movement, looked up and saw Itachi sitting on the roof. With a hideous growl, it stretched a clawed hand forwards at the nukenin, and it swiped at the dodging man...

'_Katon: housenka no jutsu!'_

...just as fire surrounded him.

Itachi slid back, his feet sending loose tiles to the ground in small avalanches as the fire landed against the building at his side. With two against one, usually he could handle himself, especially since these were only genin, but these were special genin. He would have to capture the jinchuuriki, now!

It was the optimum time for Itachi to have decided that. At that moment, the blond shinobi fell to the ground, the blood and pain that came from his chest overtaking him. He could hold it in no longer. Even the Kyuubi couldn't stop it.

The nukenin appeared behind Naruto, expecting a fight before he could take him away, but instead, the blond collapsed at his feet.

And Sasuke flew at his brother, a kunai in hand. He knew that he wasn't strong enough yet. Even with the cursed seal, he wasn't strong enough to defeat his brother. But he couldn't just let Itachi take Naruto away, even if fighting Itachi meant death. If he was going to die, he was going to die doing something worth dying for. He was going to protect Naruto from this bastard of a man.

Itachi could almost laugh. Naruto was lying at his feet and his little brother actually thought that he was powerful enough to kill him. He never thought that he could come across such a magnificently unusual day. Sasuke couldn't be serious; he was going to lose.

But, Sasuke was serious...so Itachi didn't laugh. The expression on Sasuke's face didn't allow for laughter of any kind, even if it was bitter. So, Itachi allowed a kunai to fall from the sleeve of his torn cloak into his hand. If Sasuke was serious about fighting him now, then he would be serious about killing him now. He would allow his hands to coat with the last blood of the Uchiha.

But as they were about to strike, an array of senbon flew at them. Sasuke and Itachi fell apart to find two needles embedded in Sasuke's arm, and three stuck in Itachi's. Dizziness overcame both brothers, but it was Sasuke who fell first, to the sound of approaching footsteps.

Itachi fell back as his eyes failed to focus. His limbs were growing heavy as he grabbed the jinchuuriki. But his arms had already lost their strength. He couldn't lift the blond shinobi.

With frustration filling his body, Itachi threw the blond to the ground. He had done all this work, all this planning, for nothing. _'It's someone's fault,'_ he decided as he released his hold over the genjutsu that still vied for victory in the jinchuuriki's mind. _'And it's definitely Kisame's!'_ It was no use. Even as he was fighting him, all the genjutsu was doing was making the blond's condition worse, even if it kept the boy from killing him.

Itachi vanished before the first medic-nin arrived. The sound of shouting was coming closer, and he knew that he wouldn't be able handle the ANBU which he knew were there. He would have to wait for another day, but eventually, he would capture the Kyuubi.

**E**ven with poison filling his body, crumbling him to the ground as weakness melted his limbs, Sasuke was faintly aware of the presence of others around him. They probably thought he was here to kill Naruto, but he didn't care. All he cared about was how Naruto was.

"Iwashi!" Raidou was calling out in annoyance. "I told you not to run ahead of us!"

Sasuke turned his blurred eyes from Iwashi who loomed over his half-poisoned body. Naruto... He had to see if Naruto was...

The Uchiha's eyes caught onto a growing red patch of snow, spreading out from a darker core, a boy with bright blond hair. Naruto was half-buried in the ground, his heavy limbs glued to the melting snow.

"Na..." Sasuke struggled to see through the white clouds of breath that came from his worriedly open mouth. "Naruto!" The dark-haired boy pushed the medic-nin aside as he felt strength return to his body. Iwashi was a top medic-nin, and he had already taken the poison out. "Naruto!"

Itachi was gone.

And as Sasuke ran forwards, he didn't even notice the rain chipping away the snow

**S**hizune was running forwards, ahead of everyone, so she was the first to see them outlined in the grey light of winter, two nukenin standing in the snow. Her first instinct was to attack. She could ask questions later. And that was what she did. With precise movements, she pulled the sleeve of her jacket up and launched the needles from the apparatus on her arm.

'_Shikomi shindan!'_

Usually, the needles were coated with lethal poison, but she had decided on different poison today, a neurotoxin that inhibited the peripheral nervous system instead of attacking the central nervous system. It wasn't fatal, but it was still effective. She had decided on it after worrying about it hitting Naruto or pedestrians by accident. She didn't want to kill innocent citizens.

But as the needles launched at their targets, all five of them hit. She didn't need to worry.

However, as she neared, the cloaked nukenin shunshin-ed away. She had lost a chance to capture him. But there was still Uchiha Sasuke. Shizune turned to see him lying on the ground. They had found Uchiha Sasuke.

"Shizune-senpai, I'm going to remove the poison from Sasuke-san's body," Iwashi suggested as he stopped at her side. He was the first to arrive at the scene, and Shizune was glad. She didn't want to touch Sasuke's bloody body at that moment. Naruto seemed much more seriously wounded.

"Iwashi! I told you not to run ahead of us!" Raidou was yelling as soon as he arrived. "You could have been killed!"

Iwashi opened his mouth to say something when he was pushed aside, and the shouts of the dark-haired boy covered over anything else he had to say. Sasuke was headed for Naruto.

"Don't move, Uchiha Sasuke," an ANBU said, her katana blade laid at the base of his throat.

"Naruto," the dark-haired boy said, knowing well that if he said or did anything wrong, they would kill him. "How is Naruto?"

Kneeling at Naruto's side, Shizune looked up at Sasuke. It didn't seem like a ruse. He looked genuinely concerned for Naruto's health. "He'll be fine," she said slowly as she moved her glowing green hands away. The freshly healed parts of his lungs had ruptured with the intense activity of battle. Even with the power of the Kyuubi healing him, he had to rest. But, it would be best if they could move him to the hospital. "Genma!"

"I already called for a medic-team. They're on their way."

"Just take him inside! The hospital is down the street!" Sasuke couldn't believe that they needed a medic-team. He had thought that they _were_ the medic-team! "Naruto's coughing up blood and you're worried about a medic-team!"

At which Shizune glared at the dark-haired boy. "Urusai!" Shizune snapped at the boy. It wasn't like her to snap at someone like that, but she was under a lot of stress. "We can't move him. It might worsen his injuries." She sighed at her horrible behaviour and decided to explain. "The medic-team will bring a stretcher so we can move him safely."

And even as she spoke, the stretcher came...and soon, Sasuke found himself sitting in the Hokage's office. Everything that happened between the time the stretcher came and the time he found himself sitting in that room was a blur. The Uchiha couldn't remember a thing. All he knew was that he was staring at Naruto's face as they took him to surgery, and he was calling out Naruto's name. But there was no answer.

And he was worried.

**W**hen Naruto woke up, he found a bloody mask covering his face. Flecks of blood flew from his mouth at every breath and he faintly remembered what had happened. His blurry mind tried to pinpoint the pieces of memory that had fallen to his feet. Naruto knelt down, his hands grasping at the jigsaw pieces until it was whole.

'_Sasuke! Sasuke was here!'_ Naruto's mind screamed as soon as the image of that dark head filled his mind. _'Sasuke came back! I need to see–'_ But his weighted arms and unmovable legs refused to rise.

**_Aren't you overreacting? He's not that exciting,_** the Kyuubi said coldly. He was disinterested in anything that had to do with the Uchiha. It wasn't as if he was doing anything for him. **_Let's do something more interesting._** The last thing he wanted to do was see the nukenin.

'_I want to see Sasuke!'_ The excitement was still fresh in his mind. After dreaming about him, he couldn't help but want to see him with his eyes, to know what had happened to him while he was away. _'Sasuke's back!'_

**_He left you, remember? He's with Orochimaru now._** Even if Naruto was practically jumping with excitement, the Kyuubi refused to allow him to forget it. Sasuke was with Orochimaru, and the only reason why he would return would probably be to test his strength. **_He probably returned to kill you._**

Naruto ignored the Kyuubi as best he could with the kitsune's voice vibrating through his mind. Yes. Sasuke was with Orochimaru, but he was with him now. He came back. And Naruto couldn't help but be happy about that, even if he was still ravaged from the Uchiha's initial betrayal. "Sasuke..." He had dreamt about him for so long. He couldn't just let him go.

He refused to believe that Sasuke had returned to kill him.

**End Chapter 9**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Grammar and devices. This might be the most important thing to the credibility of an author. Don't worry too much if your spelling is horrible or you can't write a proper sentence. That's not what I mean by grammar and devices. You can still choose to write a story with horrible grammar, or saturated with devices if that's what you want. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read _Flowers for Algernon_ if you haven't already read it. It's pretty short. The whole book is a good example of what I mean. If you're going to write something, you have to know why you're writing it. Oneshots are like short stories. As an author, you must know the meaning of every word and why that word is there. If one word was gone, could your story continue? If not, why? Longer stories aren't the same. If one word was missing, your story might not change, but since the story is longer, the effect is larger too. If one sentence was gone, would someone still be able to understand your story? If you wrote the sentence or the scene differently, will it still have the same effect? When you get to a point where you can understand every part of your story, every word in the story, every syllable, every sentence, then you will have perfected the use of grammar and devices. … That was hard to write. I'm not sure if I explained it properly, but the simple version is that you have to be conscious of everything you write down and know why it's there. If there's a fragment, why is there a fragment there? What kind of effect are you trying to create by doing this? If there is personification, why is there personification there? What kind of effect are you trying to create by doing this? That was repetition—another device—in order to make sure you understand that this question is very important. Remember this question because it will help with conveying what you want to say in your stories. I'm sorry if this was too long. I'm doing my best to explain grammar and devices properly. Well, see you next time for what parentheses are and how to use them.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: Your English tidbits are too long.

Fire: Urusai! I don't care what you think!

Sasuke: Yeah, right. I'm the co-writer. I'll kill you if you don't listen to me.

Naruto: Waah! What's going on! Sasuke came back to kill me!

Fire: Uh…I don't think that's it, Naruto.

Sasuke: I can't believe this! Who wrote that!

Kyuubi: …

Fire: Well, that was the ninth chapter. Yes, there's only one more to go, and the epilogue. Remember to review. I want to know what you think, even if it's one word.

Kakashi: That has to be an exaggeration. I don't think anyone's going to write one word.

Fire: There might be an entire essay. I don't mind that too. Just send me an honest opinion and I'll… Hm… I guess I'll just keep writing, unless you want me to write a story for you. That's okay too. I take requests, although it might take a while for the prototype to come out.

Sasuke: It's called a draft, a first draft!

Fire: A draft, yes. Well, see you next chapter, and remember to review!

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	10. Facets of Inevitability

Fire: This is chapter ten, and the last chapter of _Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage._ For those of you who want more yaoi, go to the first book of the series, _Wait for Me: Leaving._ The people who have read that might want to go on to the second book, _Wait for Me: Following_, but that is very Sakura-centric and you might want to just go on to the third book if you don't want to read too much into her character. But if you skip the second book, she might seem OOC to you. As well, there might be a little confusion over characters introduced or reintroduced in the second book. But don't worry, I don't create original characters unless I really feel like it, and I don't want to do it for this series. And reminder to everyone, this is a prequel! It will end on a cliffhanger since it all runs into the first book. I already said it before, but I just want to say it again in case I get flames for it. I had already mentioned it before.

Sasuke: Long intro this chapter, Fire.

Fire: I know. Now, for reviews! (turns to Kakashi)

Kakashi: (drops the Big Bag of Reviews on the ground and sighs) You keep replying using the reply button, and you still need me to carry the bag? (pulls out a window and hands it to Fire)

Fire: I need to be reminded of what to say to the general public. The concerns of one reviewer might be the concern of many others. (reads the review)

Sasuke: That means that Fire wants to fill up the space with as much talk as possible.

Fire: Urusai! I have something important to say.

Kakashi: Everything you say is important.

Fire: I said urusai! Now, the first thing I want to say is thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I really appreciate it and it really helps me understand what the reader is thinking when I write. I do a lot of research before I write a story so I understand things on a different dimension. I sometimes forget that the reader might think that a character is OOC when they're not. If you think anyone is OOC, I can reference you to the manga chapter and anime episode if it's available so that you can understand it better.

Sasuke: What's the second thing?

Fire:Second thing?

Kakashi: You said first thing, so we're assuming there should be more.

Fire: There's nothing more. That's it. (turns back to the audience) Thanks for all your moral support. Please don't kill me because this ends on a cliffhanger!

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Disclaimer: The phrase "my dobe" still belongs to Fire. Please don't steal it otherwise Sasuke will come to flame you, literally, with a katon. I didn't use it in this chapter, but I just want to remind everyone out there. Ja!

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**Chapter 10: Facets of Inevitability**

**A**s soon as Sasuke walked out of the Hokage office, he let out a sigh of annoyed relief. It had gone better than he had thought. Tsunade-sama hadn't killed him for betraying Konoha, and there was no long lecture. There was only the scolding usually dealt to erring shinobi and the knowledge that he wasn't going to be doing anything of considerable use to the village for a long, long time. It was going to take a while before they trusted him again.

But the Uchiha didn't care about that. He didn't care that his apartment was gutted and his things were put in storage. He didn't care that someone else had rented it and he had nowhere to go. He didn't care that he had to live in the old Uchiha estate again, a place that he hadn't been in since the massacre. He didn't care about any of that.

All he cared about was how Naruto was. The last time he saw the blond, Shizune was shouting to all the medic-nin in the hospital about an emergency operating table and calling Tsunade-sama from the tower. Sasuke didn't know how serious it was, but his meeting with the Hokage was delayed for several hours because of it.

However, the last hour of lecturing was far from Sasuke's mind as he found his rain-drenched body in front of the hospital again. _'Naruto...'_ There was only the thought that he might be seriously hurt. All that blood–the dark red staining the melting snow as it ran into the falling rain–shone vividly in his mind. He didn't know if he wanted to go in and see him.

What if he was dead?

With reluctant steps, the Uchiha walked into the hospital. He could feel the presence of unseen ANBU, watching his every movement, waiting for something suspicious to catch their eye. But Sasuke ignored them.

"Uzumaki Naruto's room, please," Sasuke said to the nurse at reception.

The woman looked up with wide eyes before replying shakily. She wasn't supposed to be at reception so it made sense that she was a little shaky. Usually, she tended to the patients. However, that wasn't all that was unsettling.

Kaori was sure that the young man who asked for the jinchuuriki's room was Uchiha Sasuke. She had seen Uchiha Sasuke before, and it looked like Uchiha Sasuke. But, she was sure that Uchiha Sasuke was no longer with them. He had left...

"Arigatou," the dark-haired boy said before turning down the hall to Naruto's room.

...and this boy was too polite to be Uchiha Sasuke.

**T**sunade tapped her fingers on her desk. It seemed as if the weather was finally returning to normal, although it was still a little too early in the day to nap. That was why she had allowed her mind to wander, even though she should really be focussing on her work.

"Hokage-sama, please focus on your work," Raidou said even though he was glad that he didn't have to run around today. He was still tired from chasing after Shizune the night before. That medic-nin could really run when it was needed.

"Naruto's condition is better?" Tsunade's eyes caught on the medical report from the hospital. There didn't seem to be any more problems, but then, the woman didn't expect anything serious. After all, it was she who had performed that complicated procedure.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Raidou said as he looked at the binders in his hands. They were placed in completely wrong places. It was a wonder that he had found them at all! "Here are the new missions to be assigned tomorrow." He handed one binder to Tsunade and turned back to the shelf with the other. That binder contained reports on completed missions. Those needed to be filed away in the_ right_ place.

"Yes, new missions..." Tsunade said as she looked at the binder. She was sure that Naruto would want a few missions too.

But that was completely out of the question.

The blond woman leaned back in her seat, staring at the pages of missions as she read them. There were no D-ranked missions because of the snow. People who usually came to them from outside the village had avoided this area which had been snowed in for quite some time. It looked as if it might take an entire year before they could reform their ties with the rest of the country, that it was safe to actually come to Konoha again.

C-ranked missions had the same problem, and the ones that actually arrived through the snowstorm were too vigorous for someone still recovering from injuries. Tsunade refused to assign them to Naruto, even if he threatened suicide.

B-ranked and A-ranked missions were even worse. She wasn't even considering assigning them to the blond. He didn't even have the necessary skills much less the health to perform the tasks.

Tsunade dropped the binder onto her desk with a great sigh. It was ridiculous to think that people wouldn't come to Konoha because of a little snow. She had been through worse snowstorms, and many of the shinobi here have been through ice ages in Yuki no Kuni.

But the blond woman pulled her raving mind back into her body as she reminded herself of where she was. This was Hi no Kuni. These people knew nothing of snow. They would naturally lock themselves in when something like this happened.

Not to mention that there were rumours that the Daimyo had mentioned Konoha weakening because of the genjutsu. Some of the other Daimyo were hesitating and turning to other hidden villages. That accounted for the overall decline in missions.

It looked as if she wasn't assigning missions to anyone, much less Naruto, for a while, but that was okay. It might actually be better since she wouldn't have to make up an excuse to the blond shinobi. She didn't really want to assign the jinchuuriki any missions since he was still recovering, and she wanted to keep an eye on him. That genjutsu might have side effects that she hadn't thought of.

'_Now, to the matter of rebuilding those ties.'_ Tsunade let out another sigh over the binder of missions. Usually, it was full, but the few pages there were depressing. _'I'll have to send someone to the capital to sort all this out.'_

**A**s the Uchiha walked down the hall, he looked around. No one seemed to notice him, but then, there weren't a lot of things to draw their attention. He was just another visitor to the hospital. It would still be a few days, or at least a few hours, before any of his fangirls realized that he was there and tried to attack him. If he still had fangirls in this village.

"Sasuke..."

The whisper came from the other side of the door as Sasuke allowed his knuckles to fall on its surface once, the door throwing open at the sudden word. The Uchiha didn't know what to think as he saw those blue eyes staring up at him. There was only fear.

"Naruto...I..." The dark lashes on Sasuke's cheeks uncurtained dark eyes which promptly fixed on the blond shinobi. For a moment, they shared a single emotion which saturated the entire room. He didn't know what to say. _'Gomen. I tried to kill you at Shuumatsu no Tani, but that was only an accident. I promise never to do it again.'_ No. He couldn't say that. "I..." What could he say!

"Hello, Sasuke." Naruto clutched the blankets nervously, his mind reminding him what the Kyuubi had just said. Sasuke was here to kill him! "Wh-what are you..." He looked around for his kunai pouch, his shuriken pouch, a weapon of any kind! But there was nothing. "...doing here?"

The Uchiha closed the door and sat down in front of the blond. He took a deep breath before speaking again. He didn't know what to say, but he decided to say the first thing on his mind. "Naruto, gomen." His eyes were fixed on the ground. He didn't want to see Naruto's reaction. "You can hit me later for..." He didn't want to bring up Shuumatsu no Tani. "I understand if you hate me." He was never good at words.

And during the silence that filled the air between his words and the blond shinobi's words, Sasuke thought that Naruto might have been confused. The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to explain what he meant when his companion let out a huge sigh. "Wow, and I thought you were here to kill me!" His loud voice was filled with relief. "I guess you just decided to re–" The blond stopped for a few harsh coughs. "Hey, you can buy me ramen later!"

"I'm not buying you ramen," Sasuke said, glaring at the blond. He was trying to be nice, and Naruto was taking advantage of him. That was a nice way to welcome him back!

"Yes, you can. Then I want to fight you. Don't think that you're stronger just because you went away." The blond grinned at him. He was never going to let the betrayal go, but he wasn't going to remind Sasuke about it. The important thing was that he had returned. And Naruto was happy. "I'm going to make you eat dirt."

"Hn." Losing to Naruto wasn't going to happen.

"Don't argue, teme!" Naruto shouted before grinning at him. "I'm going to beat you this time." After waiting almost three years, he would definitely defeat him.

But some things never changed, no matter how much time passed, no matter what had happened. As soon as they walked out of the hospital a week later, the fangirls had already heard. Sasuke had returned, and the race to become mother of the Uchiha clan had begun again.

"Waah, why are there still so many girls chasing after you!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke as soon as he saw the crowd. There were more girls than he had thought possible. Sasuke had abandoned them, and they didn't even care.

Sasuke didn't answer, only ran. He didn't know the answer to that question. All he knew was what he always did in this situation. He ran as far away from that area as possible. There were fangirls now, but Ino and Sakura were going to be here soon, and they were a lot more persistent.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino's smiling face appeared two inches away from Sasuke as soon as he turned a corner. He was going to grab Naruto and shunshin away, but that was out of the question now. "I was wondering if–"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction from Ino. He hadn't remembered so many girls following him around before, but then, his memory might not be right. It has been about three years.

"Sasuke-kun!" A hand reached out and grabbed Sasuke's arm, wrenching him around to see pink hair and aqua-green eyes. "I heard you had returned!" A huge smile beamed from the kunoichi's face.

"Uh...yeah," Sasuke said shakily. After years of being on his own, he had forgotten how to deal with fangirls. It was just unfortunate that the fangirls hadn't forgotten about him.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto sang as soon as he saw the pink hair at Sasuke's shoulder. All thoughts of fighting Sasuke had vanished. "Want to get some ra–"

"No!" Sakura shouted at the blond before turning to Sasuke again. "Sasuke-kun, do you–"

"Training." The Uchiha pulled his arm away from the kunoichi. He already knew what she was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it. All prospects of a fight today had vanished, and he wasn't in a good mood. He really wanted to see if he had gotten stronger, if he could still defeat Naruto even though he was stronger now too. Those other forms that the spies had told him about...could Sasuke defeat them? "I'm going home."

Sasuke turned away from the group, his mind settled on the same goal he has had since he was eight years old. He was going to kill Itachi, and he would becomes stronger, so that he could accomplish that goal. Even if he had to sell his soul to the devil, he would become stronger. He was an avenger, and he will kill his brother.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, you're going the wrong way!" Sakura yelled as Sasuke continued down the street. That was the direction of the old Uchiha estate. Sasuke's apartment was in the other direction. "Sasuke-kun!"

But Sasuke didn't hear her. He was already gone.

"Naruto, this is all your fault!" Sakura yelled as she smacked the blond in the head. If Sasuke ignored her, it was always Naruto's fault. "Sasuke-kun was about to take a walk in the park with me!"

"_I_ can take a walk with you, Sakura-chan," Naruto suggested as his chest filled with a strange relief. But he had to admit, he wasn't sure if he was glad that Sasuke had refused to go with Sakura, or that Sakura wasn't going with Sasuke. "I'll even–"

"No."

Naruto hadn't known why he was glad, but he knew what had made his heart drop from his chest to land at his feet in a bloody splat. "No?" Suddenly, things had become too normal again. Reality had smacked him in the face and all he needed was... All he needed was... "Ano-sa! Ano-sa! Where's Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan?" He hadn't seen his sensei once since he found himself in the hospital, since he had recovered.

And Sakura stared at him, as if he was in a coma again. "He's on a mission," she said slowly. "He has been gone for an entire month." Only one month. It had felt longer. She couldn't help but worry, couldn't help but wonder what was taking him so long to return. She didn't know what he had to do, but he should have finished his mission by now.

"A mission! But I need him to train me! I need to be stronger than Sasuke!" It was ridiculous. After so many years, Kakashi was still the only person who hadn't given him any personal one-on-one training. And Kakashi's tips were more important than anything else! He had trained Sasuke. He knew what Sasuke knew. That could give Naruto the advantage in their fight!

But the desire that he felt within him wasn't for battle. This emotional high that had run through his body at Sasuke's answer held a mystery that Naruto didn't want to think about. He had wanted to...hug Sasuke? Was that it? He was so happy that he wanted to hug him?

Naruto looked shyly at Sakura. She was staring at him, but he didn't feel that same nervousness that had taken hold of him many times before. That was missing, and it was scaring him. "I-I'm going to go to Ichiraku's," he said quickly before turning away. Ramen. That was something that never changed, that never scared him like this. He needed ramen!

Teuchi greeted him with the usual cheeriness that he always greeted the blond shinobi. After almost two months of absence, he was happy to see him again. "Miso chasu omori!" Naruto called out in his usual voice, even though his chest riled with tumultuous confusion. He didn't even notice Sakura sit down at his side.

"Naruto..." She couldn't help but think that she was missing something. She was sure that nothing serious could have happened to Naruto while he was affected by that genjutsu. "Are–"

"Sakura-chan, I want to be alone for a little while." Naruto looked at the girl, an unnameable emotion contorting his face. His mind was flying in all directions, and he couldn't stop one long enough to figure out what he was feeling. "I need to think." And he didn't want Sakura–

'_Chikusho! What is wrong with me! I don't want Sakura-chan around! That can't be normal!'_ He turned back to the hands that sat on the counter, and was faintly aware of the ramen girl, Ayame staring at him. _'It has to be Itachi! Itachi did something to me! That genjutsu messed with my brain!'_

"Think?" Sakura stared at the blond. That was a word that she never thought she'd hear from Naruto. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." But Naruto was beating himself up inside.

_**Baka. I thought you liked her.**_

'_Urusai, kuso kitsune!'_

"Yokata! Then, you won't mind if I run over to see Sasuke!" Sakura chimed as she jumped to her feet. "I'll see if he wants to take a nice romantic walk by the river!" And the kunoichi was gone.

"Miso chasu," Ayame said with a smile as she placed the large bowl in front of the blond boy.

But Naruto only stared at it, his mind truly lost in thought before he bowed his head and shouted, "Itadakimasu!"

He had searched through his mind, and searched through his body. And he had come to a conclusion. He couldn't be in love with Sasuke. That vision was created by Itachi to destroy his brother, and if Naruto kept believing it, he would only end up hurting his friend. That was why he had to abandon it. These feelings that filled his chest weren't real.

"Ossan! Another bowl!"

He was in love with Sakura. That was it. There was no room for anyone else. That dream of Sasuke and him–in a house together, living a happy life–wasn't real. It was best that he forget it.

And he would erase his memory with ramen, because sooner or later, everything in his life came down to ramen.

**S**akura was happy. It seemed as if everything was finally normal again. The weather had returned to their early spring hues, and finally the trees had decided to bud. It was the perfect day for her Sasuke to return. Today, she would finally get him to agree. Today, she would make him her boyfriend!

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura knocked on the doorframe of a sliding door, the front door of the house far inside the Uchiha estate that she knew Sasuke was living in. There were few things that could hide from the Hokage's apprentice. "Sasuke-kun, I know you're in there!" At which, the door slid open forcefully and dark eyes stared down at the pink-haired kunoichi. Sasuke didn't look happy to see her at all.

And he wasn't happy to see her. He had lost his apartment, was forced to live in a place he despised, and now there was the first girl of many here to annoy him and make him miserable. Not to mention all the thoughts of Naruto that was going through his mind!

"What do you want, Sakura?" His dark voice challenged her. If she said the wrong thing, he might actually kill her.

"Sa–" Sakura stopped herself, her mouth closing slightly as she tried to word what she wanted to say. "Do you...want to..."

"No." Sasuke knew. She was going to ask him to take a walk, or to go to the Dango shop, and she would say that they were on a date. And he wasn't going to date her!

"Well, you might want to–"

"I said no."

"But Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke glared at the girl. He didn't know what it was. It might have been that he has been away for too long, or it might just be because he was more heartless, but he was annoyed. The girl was annoying.

"Sasuke-kun, just one date. I just want to catch up," Sakura said, oblivious to the glares that the dark-haired boy shot at her.

"One date," he said slowly, wondering if he would have said it if she had asked him the same thing years ago. He might really have gotten soft. The girl's whining had actually broken him down. "But, only _one_ date, got it?" Then, he turned back into the house, slamming the door in the kunoichi's face. He had agreed, but he didn't say when.

One date. _'I'm really losing it.' _Sasuke's mind slumped to the ground as the thoughts of Naruto that had plagued him for the last few years continued to rage._ 'I should be talking to Naruto. What am I doing with Sakura?'_ His hands curled and uncurled at his side. He couldn't help but feel that he was playing with her, even if she had asked him, begged him to do it. Deep down, he knew that he should have said no. But, Sasuke's mind wasn't entirely sober. Anger had drunken his thoughts.

With dazed movements, he wandered through the empty house to the room that used to belong to his brother. It was still the way he had left it.

But, Sasuke didn't think twice before wrecking it.

It was going to be another week before Sasuke came out of the Uchiha estate.

**End Chapter 10**

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Moral of the story:

Dreams are only visions you cannot hold in your hands. It is more important to shape dreams into reality than to allow others to determine your fate. The path you walk down must be your own because in the end, only you know what it is you had dreamt.

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's the last tidbit for the book. I don't want to do them for non-chapters since I didn't do one for the prologue and I want to stay consistent. So, since I promised to explain what parentheses, ie. "( " and " )" are for, here it is. First of all, they are called parentheses, not brackets. Brackets are " " and " " and " " and " " and although they share the uses of parentheses, there are a few uses that are unique to parentheses, and uses that are unique to brackets. Parentheses enclose non-essential information, information that is less important than those enclosed by the dash, "—" and commas. I'm sure you know what a comma looks like. That means that you can still understand what is happening or what the writer is trying to say, even if you don't read it. Another use is to enclose numbers or letter that list items in a series. For example, Sasuke hates (1) Itachi, (2) natto, (3) anything sweet, (4) annoying fangirls, and (5) losing to Naruto. The same would go for letters, ie. A, B, C, I, II, III, etc. For brackets, they share these same uses, but they act as parentheses within parentheses. You might not come up with any uses for them in creative writing, but for technical writing (ie. School), you might need to know about it. The only other use is for editorial comments, like when you read quotes in the newspaper. I'm sure you'll find lots of examples there. Brackets have highly restricted use as opposed to parentheses. If you come up to a sentence when you have to use them, chances are you would use parentheses. That should help with deciding which to use. I hope that has clarified a few things. And remember dashes, "—" are different from hyphens, "–". I'll bring up the uses of hypens later, probably in the next book.

Fire's babbling:

Kaori: Hmm…I think I have the same problem that Iwashi-san had. No one knows who I am.

Sasuke: Pay attention to the other characters! I know I'm distracting but—

Kakashi: (muffles Sasuke before he could continue) I don't think that's what Kaori-san meant.

Fire: Kaori is the nurse that brought Sakura and Ino to Sasuke's room, then to Lee's room after the Chuunin exam prelims. I hope that answers some questions.

Sasuke: I don't think they had any questions at all. They probably thought she was OC like Iwashi was.

Fire: But I don't do original characters! Not for Naruto! There's a million characters, so original characters are redundant!

Sasuke: I think you should wrap up now.

Fire: Oh, yes, my usual speech. I don't think I have to ask you to review, so leave one if you want to, or if you're in a good mood. Actually, leave one if you're in a bad mood too. But if you're really busy, you can just leave a review later. I won't mind.

Kakashi: Can we try to keep this short?

Fire: I'm trying! (turning back to the audience) For those of you who want to read the epilogue, please remember that it's on a cliff-hanger since it continues into _Wait for Me: Leaving_. Unless you're good at dealing with cliff-hangers, I don't suggest you read it if you don't plan on reading the first book of this series. If you're wondering about the title of the epilogue, that will be explained at the end. It's a metaphor so it might take some explaining. Until then, review!

Sasuke: (staring at Fire's comments) You actually kept it short. I'm amazed.

Kakashi: Now let's close the window before Fire starts talking again.

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	11. The Wheel that Spins Cannot be Stopped

Fire: This is the epilogue. For those of you who don't want to continue with the first book of the series, don't read this chapter. The epilogue ends on a cliffhanger, and runs right into the first book of the Wait for Me series, _Wait for Me: Leaving._ If you haven't read it and don't plan to read it, don't read this chapter—

Sasuke: You said that already.

Fire: (sweats) I have? (looks down at the script) Where was I…?

Kakashi: This runs into the first book…

Fire: Oh, yeah! (smiles nervously) If you want to continue reading, please go to my user profile or search for _Wait for Me: Leaving_ on the site search engine.

Sasuke: Can we end this story now?

Kakashi: First, reviews! (pulls a window from the Bag of Reviews) Then we'll end the story.

Fire: He's just cranky because he can't kill Itachi in this story. (reads the window)

Kakashi: If you want to find out what happens to everyone after this story, read the next book.

Fire: It's not mandatory to read the next book. That's why they all stand alone and that's why I loaded them separately. Technically, they're all separate stories that are part of the same larger story. There is a beginning and there's an end. I'm going somewhere with this, but if you want to know what, you'll have to read the next book.

Kakashi: No pressure here. What did the review say?

Fire: What review? I uploaded the epilogue with the last chapter of the story.

Kakashi: Then why am I carrying this bag around?

Fire: You've grown attached to it?

Kakashi: …

Sasuke: Really? (stares at Kakashi and the bag)

Kakashi: That's not possible!

Fire: Now on with the epilogue! (pulls up the epilogue)

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**Epilogue: The Wheel that Spins Cannot be Stopped**

**T**ravelling on known roads through the entirety of Hi no Kuni took weeks. Travelling on known roads through Hi no Kuni and neighbouring countries took months. And Kakashi also had to search through the unchartered wilderness that covered everything. The source of that wild genjutsu wasn't just going to sit in a hotel, waiting for him with a nice bottle of sake and a hot bath.

The grey-haired jounin was beginning to doubt that he would be able to find the perpetrator. It had been about four months and he still hadn't found them. But, luck was a part of the job too. As Kakashi headed back toward Hi no Kuni after searching through Taki no Kuni, he came across Hoshigaki Kisame.

As a shinobi of Konoha, Kakashi would normally engage in a fight and try to capture him. Kisame was an S-ranked criminal, and he shouldn't just allow him to go. However, that was something that a shinobi should do when he had backup with him. No one was crazy enough to face an S-ranked criminal on his own–except for Naruto, but Naruto wasn't with him at the moment–even if he was strong enough to do it. So, Kakashi was about to let him pass, slip by without causing a commotion, but the mumbling of the nukenin to his sword caught the jounin's ears and he couldn't just let Kisame go.

The Kiri-nin was headed back to Itachi. And from the mumbling, Itachi was the one behind the genjutsu that had fallen over Konoha.

'_Chikusho! I should have known!'_ Kakashi couldn't believe that he didn't think of it right away. Itachi had tried to capture Naruto many times before. It should have been obvious to him. He should have though of it months ago!

But now wasn't the time to beat himself up. Kakashi pulled himself back into the realm of calmness as he followed after the blue-skinned nukenin. There wasn't even a possibility. Kisame was definitely going to lead him to Itachi.

**K**akashi was long gone when Itachi returned. He had thought to return with a team of ANBU or strong jounin before Itachi's arrival. But that wasn't what happened. Itachi came back about a day and a half after Kakashi left.

"So, the plan was..." Kisame couldn't see the jinchuuriki in Itachi's hands. "...unsuccessful?"

Itachi glared at his partner. If he could kill him, he would. But then, he would probably be partnered with another brainless idiot. "Obviously."

"It took you two months to fail?" Kisame was good at cruel remarks when he was right, and he was right about this plan's failing. He had said it right from the start. It wasn't just because he hated snow.

"No." Itachi grabbed Kisame by the collar and threw him against the wall, effectively shattering through a stalagmite. "It took two months for _you_ to fail." Itachi had no intention of admitting that he had failed. Itachi never failed. It was always Kisame who failed. It was always Kisame who had to be held back from his killing frenzies.

Itachi had fainted halfway back to their base, the poison completely paralysing his body. But he wasn't going to tell Kisame that he had allowed three tiny senbon to stop him.

"What have you to say for yourself?" Itachi glared coldly at Kisame with his dark red eyes. Now was a good time to remind the blue man why he was in charge.

The Kiri-nin narrowed his eyes at Itachi. Usually, he would fight back. It was Itachi's idea. It was Itachi who had carried it out, and it was Itachi who had failed. He shouldn't have to take the blame. But the thought of Samehada's continuous hunger came into his mind, and he couldn't say that it wasn't partly his fault. He had allowed himself to be swept away. "Nothing," he said before squeezing his eyes tight. If he didn't look into the Uchiha's eyes, the genjutsu couldn't affect him.

But Itachi still had other ways of torturing Kisame, and it was going to be far more painful than any genjutsu.

**I**t was late May as Kakashi neared Konoha, and it would be early June when he finally arrived. But it was late May when Kakashi came to Otafuku Gai, and he had the misfortune to run into Maito Gai and his team.

Kakashi was surprised. He hadn't thought that Gai would be out on a mission, and an _A-ranked mission_ too! "An A-ranked mission?" Kakashi's voice was calm even though he was surprised that Gai and his group of chuunin was assigned such an important task.

"A mission of utmost importance!" Gai shouted at Kakashi who had given the impression that the mission couldn't possibly be A-ranked if Gai was assigned to it. "We had to meet with the Damiyo!"

Lee nodded vigorously at Gai's side.

"We were assigned because Gai-sensei and Lee were restless," Neji said with his usual calmness. "And I have experience in politics." There was enough politics between the two Hyuuga houses to swamp all the Daimyo allied with Konoha.

Kakashi looked at Tenten. She hadn't said anything. "Nothing. I'm just here to keep them in check," Tenten said as she gestured to Gai and Lee.

And Kakashi nodded. Keeping Gai and Lee in line was a full-time job.

"Are you finished with your mission, Kakashi-sensei?" Lee asked as he remembered why Kakashi had left Konoha in the first place.

"I say we should have sent ANBU after you, Kakashi-sensei. That Uchiha nukenin came into the village and tried to steal Naruto away. He's behind the whole genjutsu," Tenten said, almost as if she was lecturing as she spoke to Kakashi.

"Nani?" Kakashi's eye widened at the news. He didn't care that everyone already knew about Itachi. He had Itachi's location. That was more important. But Naruto had almost been captured. That was even more important! "How is Naruto!"

"He's fine." Neji didn't say anything more.

"He's happy. Sasuke returned. Who isn't happy?" Tenten was even more cryptic.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi wanted to know. "Just tell me what happened while I was away!"

The chuunin stared at Kakashi as they took a collective step back. That shout was uncharacteristic of someone who was usually serene against their hot-headed sensei, but that shout made Gai seem like the serene one, especially when he took Kakashi aside and explained everything.

That was what made Kakashi rush back. Naruto was in the hospital. He was almost kidnapped and killed. Sasuke was back. That was all that was going through Kakashi's mind as he flew through foliage and thin branches, through the night until he arrived at Konoha in the morning.

Now, he needed an excuse to see Naruto. He would probably be out of the hospital by now. That meant that he would be at home, and if he wasn't there, he would definitely be in his hospital room.

But an excuse...an excuse!

'_I guess lying a little wouldn't hurt.'_

And Kakashi calmed himself before jumping onto the windowsill of Naruto's kitchen.

**End Epilogue**

**End Prequel: Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage**

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Note: **GO TO _WAIT FOR ME: LEAVING_ TO CONTINUE THE STORY unless you've read that, then go straight to _WAIT FOR ME: FOLLOWING _TO CONTINUE THE STORY. THAT'S THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES.**

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Fire's babbling:

Fire: That's all for this book. Thanks for reading it all the way through. For those of you who are wondering about the title, it's a metaphor. The wheel refers to the Wheel of Fate. It spins and is unstoppable because fate is unchangeable once it has been decided. This refers to the fact that the foundation for the story that has been laid out will carry onto the next chapters, regardless of what the characters might do in the present. Sooner or later, it all comes back to get them. It's a small blend of "history repeating itself" and the idea that the universe if woven on a tapestry (Greek) and the Wheel of Fate is the spinning wheel that weaves the thread which makes up the fate of the universe. But, that goes into mythology and you don't want me to go into that.

Kakashi: We definitely don't want that.

Fire: Well, thanks again for reading this story all the way through. I know that it's a little longer than the first book of this series, but the other two books are even longer, if that's even possible. (sweats)

Sasuke: I think some of them are angry.

Fire: (confused) Why? Is the story too long?

Sasuke: This is a SasuNaru! Where's the SasuNaru!

Fire: (cringe) It's not my fault! Itachi got in the way. At least, you were with him!

Sasuke: That was Itachi!

Naruto: Don't remind me.

Fire: Well, that's what the first book is for. Remember to go to _Wait for Me: Leaving_ if you want more SasuNaru yaoi.

Sasuke: What a rip off!

Fire: You wrote half of it.

Sasuke: Exactly! I thought I'd get to write more!

Itachi: …

Sasuke: I'm going to kill you!

Fire: If you were confused about anything, review and tell me about it. I'll be happy to explain anything. If you hated it, tell me and I'll write you something better. If you liked it, I want to know, so you remember to review too. I know you're reading this. Just do it!

Kakashi: Yeah. Fire's a control freak. If you don't do what Fire says, the next story might take longer to load, even though it's already finished.

Fire: Urusai! I'll load my stories if I want to!

Sasuke: Too bad Fire doesn't like disappointing the fans.

Fire: Well, see you next story. And remember to review!

Sasuke: Control freak.

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